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Sirach

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

About this book
Chapter 36

1 Have mercy upon us, O Lord the God of all, and look at us with favor;⁠ 2 and send your fear upon all the nations.⁠ 3 Lift up your hand against the foreign nations and let them see your mighty power.⁠ 4 As you showed your holiness in us before them, so be magnified in them before us.⁠ 5 Let them know you, as we also have known you, that there is no God but only you, O God. 6 Show new signs, and work various wonders. 7 Glorify your hand and your right arm. 8 Raise up indignation and pour out wrath. 9 Take away the adversary and destroy the enemy. 10 Hasten the time and remember your oath. Let them declare your mighty works. 11 Let him who escapes be devoured by raging fire. May those who harm your people find destruction. 12 Crush the heads of the rulers of the enemies who say, “There is no one but ourselves.” 13 Gather all the tribes of Jacob together, 16 and take them for your inheritance, as from the beginning. 17 O Lord, have mercy upon the people that is called by your name, and upon Israel, whom you likened to a firstborn. 18 Have compassion upon the city of your sanctuary, Jerusalem, the place of your rest. 19 Fill Zion. Exalt your oracles and fill your people with your glory. 20 Give testimony to those who were your creatures in the beginning, and fulfill the prophecies that have been spoken in your name. 21 Reward those who wait for you, and men will put their trust in your prophets. 22 Listen, O Lord, to the prayer of your servants, according to the blessing of Aaron concerning your people; and all those who are on the earth will know that you are the Lord, the eternal God.⁠

The Choice of Companions and Counselors

23 The belly will eat any food, but one food is better than another. 24 The mouth tastes game taken in hunting, so does an understanding heart detect false speech. 25 A contrary heart will cause heaviness. A man of experience will pay him back. 26 A woman will receive any man, but one daughter is better than another. 27 The beauty of a woman cheers the face. A man desires nothing more. 28 If kindness and humility are on her tongue, her husband is not like other sons of men. 29 He who gets a wife gets his richest treasure, a helper fit for him and a pillar of support. 30 Where no hedge is, the property will be plundered. He who has no wife will mourn as he wanders. 31 For who would trust a nimble robber who skips from city to city? Even so, who would trust a man who has no nest, and lodges wherever he finds himself at nightfall?⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Sirach 36:31 and Matthew 8:20

Deuterocanon · New Testament

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Summary

In Matthew, Jesus says the Son of Man has no place to rest, a statement that may allude to Sirach 36, which compares a homeless man to a wandering thief and questions his trustworthiness. Both highlight suspicion toward those without a home.

Passages

Sirach 36:31

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
28 If kindness and humility are on her tongue, her husband is not like other sons of men. 29 He who gets a wife gets his richest treasure, a helper fit for him and a pillar of support. 30 Where no hedge is, the property will be plundered. He who has no wife will mourn as he wanders. 31 For who would trust a nimble robber who skips from city to city? Even so, who would trust a man who has no nest, and lodges wherever he finds himself at nightfall?
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

Matthew 8:20

New Testament
18 Now when Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake. 19 Then an expert in the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... According to Witherington, the sayings of Jesus here might raise the question of the credibility of an itinerant person in Sirach: “So who will trust a man that has no nest, but lodges wherever night overtakes him?” (Sirach 36:31). Thus, the mention of nests in both Matthew 8:20 / Luke 9:58 suggests the possibility that Jesus associated his experience and that of Wisdom. In addition, the lament found in Matthew 23:37–39 / Luke 13:34–35 provides further evidence that Jesus saw his rejection by Jerusalem as the rejection of God’s wisdom, also depicted in Sirach for the wandering wisdom who seeks a place to dwell (Sirach 24:11) ..."
Juheon Kim, “Christology of Q and Wisdom: The Case Study on the Johannine Thunderbolt Pericope” (diss., Chongshin University, 2015), 12–13.

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 36:31 and Matthew 8:20

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