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Sirach

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

About this book

Honor for Father and Mother

Chapter 3

1 Hear me, your father, O my children, and do what you hear, that you all may be safe. 2 For the Lord honors the father over the children, and has confirmed the judgment of the mother over her sons.⁠ 3 He who honors his father will make atonement for sins.⁠ 4 He who gives glory to his mother is as one who lays up treasure. 5 Whoever honors his father will have joy in his own children. He will be heard in the day of his prayer. 6 He who gives glory to his father will have length of days. He who listens to the Lord will bring rest to his mother, 7 and will serve under his parents, as to masters. 8 Honor your father in deed and word, that a blessing may come upon you from him. 9 For the blessing of the father establishes the houses of children, but the curse of the mother roots out the foundations. 10 Don’t glorify yourself in the dishonor of your father, for your father’s dishonor is no glory to you. 11 For the glory of a man is from the honor of his father, and a mother in dishonor is a reproach to her children. 12 My son, help your father in his old age, and don’t grieve him as long as he lives. 13 If he fails in understanding, have patience with him. Don’t dishonor him in your full strength. 14 For the kindness to your father will not be forgotten. Instead of sins it will be added to build you up. 15 In the day of your affliction it will be remembered for you, as fair weather upon ice, so your sins will also melt away.⁠ 16 He who forsakes his father is as a blasphemer. He who provokes his mother is cursed by the Lord.

Humility and Teachability

17 My son, go on with your business in humility; so you will be loved by an acceptable man.⁠ 18 The greater you are, humble yourself the more, and you will find favor before the Lord. 20 For the power of the Lord is great, and he is glorified by those who are lowly. 21 Don’t seek things that are too hard for you, and don’t search out things that are above your strength.⁠ 22 Think about the things that have been commanded you, for you have no need of the things that are secret. 23 Don’t be overly busy in tasks that are beyond you, for more things are shown to you than men can understand. 24 For the conceit of many has led them astray. Evil opinion has caused their judgment to slip.

Teachability, Generosity, and Care for the Poor

26 A stubborn heart will do badly at the end. He who loves danger will perish in it.⁠ 27 A stubborn heart will be burdened with troubles. The sinner will heap sin upon sins. 28 The calamity of the proud has no healing, for a weed of wickedness has taken root in him. 29 The heart of the prudent will understand a proverb. A wise man desires the ear of a listener. 30 Water will quench a flaming fire; almsgiving will make atonement for sins.⁠ 31 He who repays good turns is mindful of that which comes afterward. In the time of his falling he will find a support.

Texts in conversation

Compare Sirach 3:2 and Hierocles, On Parents

Deuterocanon · Classical

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Summary

Sirach says God places a father above his children and supports the mother’s authority over them. The Stoic philosopher Hierocles similarly calls parents earthly gods more deserving of honor than the gods themselves, reflecting a similar family ethic.

Passages

Sirach 3:2

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
1 Hear me, your father, O my children, and do what you hear, that you all may be safe. 2 For the Lord honors the father over the children, and has confirmed the judgment of the mother over her sons. 3 He who honors his father will make atonement for sins. 4 He who gives glory to his mother is as one who lays up treasure.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

Hierocles, On Parents

Classical · How One Should Behave toward One's Parents
After speaking of the gods and our country, what person deserves to be mentioned more than, or prior to our parents? Hence it is requisite that we should discourse about them. He, therefore, will not err who says, that they are certain secondary and terrestrial Gods; since on account of their proximity to us, they are, if it be lawful so to speak, more to be honored by us than the gods themselves. But it is necessary, previously, to assume, that the only measure of gratitude towards them is a perpetual and unremitting promptitude to repay the benefits we have received from them; since, though we should perform many things for their sake, yet they will be far less than what they deserve. At the same time, also, it may be said, that these our deeds are nearly theirs, because they produced us by whom they are performed. As therefore, if the works of Phidias and of other artists should themselves produce certain other things, we should not hesitate to say that these latter, also, were the works of the artists; thus, likewise, it may be justly said, that our performances are the deeds of our parents; through whom we likewise derived our existence.
120 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hierocles, On Parents

References

... argument concerning wife and children precedes that concerning parents, the latter argument, nevertheless, begins by pointing out that one’s duties toward parents must be treated immediately after those due to country, and so before those due to wife and children: ‘After the discourse concerning gods and country, what other person could one mention first if not one’s parents? Hence we must speak about these, whom one would not err in calling as it were second and terrestrial gods, and indeed because of their nearness, if it is lawful to say so, even more to be honored than the gods.’ Further, at the end of the discussion of duties toward one’s country, a kind of parity in rank seems to be recognized between country and parents, in that one is supposed to honor the former more than the latter but venerate the latter more than the former: ‘This reasoning, indeed, suggests that we honor our country, which is one, on a par with our two parents, so as in fact to prefer our country to either one of those who bore us, and not even to honor the two together more than it, but rather to hold them in equal respect’ ...
Ilaria Ramelli, Hierocles the Stoic: Elements of Ethics, Fragments, and Excerpts, ed. Translated by David Konstan (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009), lxxx.

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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Sirach 3:2 and Hierocles, On Parents

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