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About this book

Sirach

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

About this book
Chapter 42

1 of repeating and speaking what you have heard, and of revealing secrets. So you will be ashamed of the right things and find favor in the sight of every man. Don’t be ashamed of these things, and don’t sin to save face:

Things That Should Not Cause Shame

2 of the law of the Most High and his covenant, of judgment to do justice to the ungodly, 3 of settling accounts with a partner and with travelers, of a gift from the inheritance of friends, 4 of accurate scales and weights, of getting much or little, 5 of bargaining and dealing with merchants, of frequent correction of children, and of making the back of an evil slave bleed. 6 A seal is good where an evil wife is. Where there are many hands, lock things up. 7 Whatever you hand over, let it be by number and weight. In giving and receiving, let all be in writing. 8 Don’t be ashamed to instruct the unwise and foolish, and one of extreme old age who argues with those who are young. So you will be well instructed indeed and approved in the sight of every living man.

Anxiety about Daughters

9 A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father. Care for her takes away sleep: in her youth, for fear that she will move past the bloom of her youth, when she is married, for fear that she will be hated,⁠ 10 in her virginity, for fear that she will be defiled and become pregnant in her father’s house, when she has a husband, for fear that she will do wrong, and when she is married, for fear that she will be unable to have children. 11 Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter, so that she does not make you a laughingstock to your enemies, a byword in the city and notorious among the people, and shame you in public. 12 Don’t gaze at every beautiful body. Don’t sit among women. 13 For a moth comes from garments, and a woman’s wickedness comes from a woman. 14 A man’s wickedness is better than a pleasant woman, a woman who puts you to shame and disgrace.

God’s Wisdom in Creation

15 I will now mention the works of the Lord, and will declare the things that I have seen. The Lord’s works are in his words.⁠ 16 The sun that gives light looks at all things. The Lord’s work is full of his glory. 17 The Lord has not given power to the holy ones to declare all his marvelous works, which the Almighty Lord firmly settled, so that the universe might be established in his glory. 18 He searches out the deep and the heart. He has understanding of their secrets. For the Most High knows all knowledge. He sees the signs of the world. 19 He declares the things that are past and the things that will be, and reveals the traces of hidden things. 20 No thought escapes him. There is not a word hidden from him. 21 He has ordered the mighty works of his wisdom. He is from everlasting to everlasting. Nothing has been added to them, or taken away from them. He had no need of any counselor. 22 How desirable are all his works! One may see this even in a spark. 23 All these things live and remain forever in every kind of uses. They are all obedient. 24 All things are in pairs, one opposite the other. He has made nothing imperfect. 25 One thing establishes the good things of another. Who could ever see enough of his glory?

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Texts in conversation

Compare Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 42:9 and Sanhedrin 100b

Deuterocanon · Rabbinic

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Summary

Rabbinic tradition in tractate Sanhedrin quotes a passage from Sirach, demonstrating how it influenced Rabbinic teaching. The Rabbis may have known an early Hebrew form of Sirach, known as Ben Sira, that they adapted into their own teaching style.

Passages

Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach 42:9

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
9 A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father.
Care for her takes away sleep:
in her youth, for fear that she will move past the bloom of her youth,
when she is married, for fear that she will be hated,
10 in her virginity, for fear that she will be defiled and become pregnant in her father’s house,
when she has a husband, for fear that she will do wrong,
and when she is married, for fear that she will be unable to have children.
11 Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter,
so that she does not make you a laughingstock to your enemies,
a byword in the city and notorious among the people,
and shame you in public.
12 Don’t gaze at every beautiful body.
Don’t sit among women.
13 For a moth comes from garments,
and a woman’s wickedness comes from a woman.
14 A man’s wickedness is better than a pleasant woman,
a woman who puts you to shame and disgrace.
195–175 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jesus Ben Sira, Sirach

Sanhedrin 100b

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
If your difficulty is from its literal meaning, that does not pose a difficulty, as in the Torah, God also wrote: “You shall not destroy its trees” (Deuteronomy 20:19). It is prohibited to destroy both trees and fish skin arbitrarily. If your difficulty is from its homiletic interpretation as a euphemism, ben Sira is teaching us proper conduct: A man should not engage in sexual intercourse in an atypical manner, i.e., anal intercourse, with his wife, as it causes her discomfort. Rather, perhaps the book poses a difficulty because it is written there: A daughter is for her father false treasure; due to fear for her he will not sleep at night: During her minority, lest she be seduced; during her young womanhood lest she engage in licentiousness; once she has reached her majority, lest she not marry; once she marries, lest she have no children; once she grows old, lest she engage in witchcraft (Ben Sira 42:11–14). Perhaps you believe that one should not say this to the father of daughters. Didn’t the Sages also say it with regard to women? They said: It is impossible for the world to exist without males and without females; nevertheless, happy is one whose children are males and woe unto him whose children are females.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sanhedrin

References

"... The second of Abaye’s examples comes originally from Sirach 42:9–10, a passage about daughters. In both the Masada scroll and Ms B from the Cairo genizah, this passage contains eight cola. The rabbinic quotation, given in Hebrew, contains seven, only six of which parallel the Ben Sira manuscripts. The one colon not found in the manuscripts concerns keeping one’s daughter from witchcraft in her old age. In general the outlines of the thought are the same, but the wording and order of the lines differ widely between the rabbinic citation and the manuscripts ... “Do not let anxiety enter your heart, for it has slain many a person.” This third of Abaye’s examples is an admonition in Aramaic that has no direct parallel in Ben Sira, although Segal argues that it “is a combination of several lines in our book.” Indeed some of the material from this quotation does occur in somewhat similar contexts in Ben Sira ..."
Benjamin G. Wright III, Praise Israel for Wisdom and Instruction: Essays on Ben Sira and Wisdom, the Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint, JSJSup 131 (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 184.

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 42:9 and Sanhedrin 100b

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