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Jesus Ben Sira

Sirach

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

About this book

Harmony and the Wisdom of Age

Chapter 25

1 I enjoy three things, and they are beautiful to the Lord and to people: the agreement of relatives, the friendship of neighbors, and a woman and her husband who walk together in agreement. 2 But my soul hates three kinds of people, and I am greatly offended by how they live: a poor man who is arrogant, a rich man who is a liar, and an old fool who is an adulterer.

3 If you gathered nothing in your youth, how could you find anything in your old age? 4 How beautiful is judgment among the gray-haired, and for elders to know good advice!⁠ 5 How beautiful is the wisdom of old men, and understanding and advice to honored men! 6 Much experience is the crown of the aged. Their glory is the fear of the Lord.⁠

The Things That Bring Happiness

7 There are nine things I have thought about and judged fortunate in my heart, and I will speak of a tenth with my tongue:⁠ a man who has joy with his children, and a man who lives and sees the fall of his enemies.⁠ 8 Happy is he who lives with a wife of understanding, he who has not slipped with his tongue, and he who has not served a man who is unworthy of him. 9 Happy is he who has found prudence, and he who speaks in the ears of those who listen. 10 How great is he who has found wisdom! Yet there is no one greater than one who fears the Lord. 11 The fear of the Lord surpasses all things. To whom can someone who holds it be compared?

Hostility and a Troubled Marriage

13 Any wound but a wound of the heart! Any wickedness but the wickedness of a woman!⁠ 14 Any disaster but a disaster from those who hate me! Any vengeance but the vengeance of enemies! 15 There is no venom worse than a snake’s venom. There is no anger worse than an enemy’s anger.

16 I would rather live with a lion and a dragon than keep house with a wicked woman. 17 The wickedness of a woman changes her appearance, and darkens her face like that of a bear. 18 Her husband will sit among his neighbors, and when he hears it, he sighs bitterly. 19 All malice is small compared to the malice of a woman. Let a sinner’s fate fall on her. 20 A wife full of words is to a quiet man what walking up a sandy hill is to the feet of the elderly. 21 Don’t be ensnared by a woman’s beauty. Don’t desire a woman for her beauty. 22 There is anger, shamelessness, and great disgrace if a woman supports her husband.⁠

23 A wicked woman is a downcast heart, a sad face, and a wounded heart. A woman who won’t make her husband happy is like hands that hang down, and weak knees.⁠ 24 The beginning of sin came from a woman. Because of her, we all die.⁠ 25 Don’t give water an outlet, and don’t give a wicked woman freedom of speech. 26 If she doesn’t follow your directions, cut her away from your flesh.⁠

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Texts in conversation

Compare Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 25:13 and Shabbat 11a

Deuterocanon · Rabbinic

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Summary

Rabbinic tradition in tractate Shabbat includes sayings similar to those in Sirach about friendship, wisdom, and family conflict. The rabbis were familiar with a Hebrew version of Sirach and reshaped it for the teaching style in the Mishnah and Talmud.

Passages

Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 25:13

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
8 Happy is he who lives with a wife of understanding,
he who has not slipped with his tongue,
and he who has not served a man who is unworthy of him. 9 Happy is he who has found prudence,
and he who speaks in the ears of those who listen. 10 How great is he who has found wisdom!
Yet there is no one greater than one who fears the Lord. 11 The fear of the Lord surpasses all things.
To whom can someone who holds it be compared? 13 Any wound but a wound of the heart!
Any wickedness but the wickedness of a woman! 14 Any disaster but a disaster from those who hate me!
Any vengeance but the vengeance of enemies! 15 There is no venom worse than a snake’s venom.
There is no anger worse than an enemy’s anger. 16 I would rather live with a lion and a dragon
than keep house with a wicked woman.
195–175 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach

Shabbat 11a

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
And Rava bar Meḥasseya said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya said that Rav said: It is preferable to be under the yoke of Ishmael and not under the yoke of a stranger, the Romans; under a stranger and not under a Ḥabar, a Persian Zoroastrian fire priest; under a Ḥabar and not under a Torah scholar, as if one offends a Torah scholar who is greater than he, the scholar will be exacting with him and he will be punished at the hand of Heaven; under a Torah scholar and not under an orphan or a widow, as they are easily insulted and God promised to hear their cries and punish those who offend them. And Rava bar Meḥasseya said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya said that Rav said: It is preferable to suffer from any extended illness and not from an intestinal illness. Similarly, it is preferable to suffer any pain, even if it is sharp and excruciating, and not heart pain; any slight ache and not a headache; any evil and not an evil wife. And Rava bar Meḥasseya said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya said that Rav said: Even if all the seas would be ink, and the reeds that grow near swamps would be quills, and the heavens would be parchment upon which the words would be written, and all the people would be scribes; all of these are insufficient to write the unquantifiable space of governmental authority, i.e., all the considerations with which a government must concern itself and deal. Rav Mesharshiya said: What is the verse that alludes to this? “The Heavens on High and the land to the depth and the heart of kings are unsearchable” (Proverbs 25:3).
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Shabbat

References

"... I have given these quotations just as they are in the works from which they are taken, without putting them in verses or even providing them with stops. Such an arrangement would have implied some metrical division, which I strongly desired to avoid ... That my collection will contribute much towards solving the great Sirach difficulties, I in no way flatter myself. The quotations are too few in proportion to the bulk of the book to throw much light on the problem. I must also distinctly state that the quotations do not always exactly correspond with references given to Ecclesiasticus. Sometimes only one of many sentences of the quotation is contained in Sirach, sometimes none at all. And thus they can only be used after the closest examination. But still I venture to think that the bringing together of all the passages with their variae lectiones will be of some service to the student, as revealing the fact that the version of Ecclesiasticus known to the Rabbis was mostly written in pure Hebrew. And when the Rabbis who did not quote literally made some alteration, it was for such terms as are to be found in the Mishnah or the Baraithot, e.g., the Aboth de Rabbi Nathan ..."
Solomon Schechter, “The Quotations from Ecclesiasticus in Rabbinic Literature,” JQR 3.4 (1891): 682–706.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 25:13 and Shabbat 11a

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