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Sirach

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

About this book
Chapter 48

1 Then Elijah arose, the prophet like fire. His word burned like a torch. 2 He brought a famine upon them, and by his zeal made them few in number. 3 By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens. He brought down fire three times. 4 How you were glorified, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!⁠ Whose glory is like yours? 5 You raised up a dead man from death, from Hades, by the word of the Most High. 6 You brought down kings to destruction, and honorable men from their sickbeds. 7 You heard rebuke in Sinai, and judgments of vengeance in Horeb. 8 You anointed kings for retribution, and prophets to succeed after you. 9 You were taken up in a tempest of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses. 10 You were recorded for reproofs in their seasons, to pacify anger, before it broke out into wrath, to turn the heart of the father to the son,⁠ and to restore the tribes of Jacob. 11 Blessed are those who saw you, and those who have been beautified with love; for we also shall surely live. 12 Elijah was wrapped in a whirlwind. Elisha was filled with his spirit. In his days he was not moved by the fear of any ruler, and no one brought him into subjection. 13 Nothing was too hard for him. When he was buried, his body prophesied. 14 As in his life he did wonders, so his works were also marvelous in death. 15 For all this the people didn’t repent. They didn’t depart from their sins, until they were carried away as a plunder from their land, and were scattered through all the earth. The people were left very few in number, but with a ruler from the house of David. 16 Some of them did that which was right, but some multiplied sins. 17 Hezekiah fortified his city, and brought water into its midst. He tunneled through rock with iron, and built cisterns for water. 18 In his days Sennacherib invaded, and sent Rabshakeh, and departed. He lifted up his hand against Zion, and boasted great things in his arrogance. 19 Then their hearts and their hands were shaken, and they were in pain, as women in labor. 20 But they called upon the Lord who is merciful, spreading out their hands to him. The Holy One quickly heard them out of Heaven, and delivered them by the hand of Isaiah. 21 He struck the camp of the Assyrians, and his angel utterly destroyed them. 22 For Hezekiah did that which was pleasing to the Lord, and was strong in the ways of his ancestor David, which Isaiah the prophet commanded, who was great and faithful in his vision.⁠ 23 In his days the sun went backward. He prolonged the life of the king. 24 He saw by an excellent spirit what would come to pass in the future; and he comforted those who mourned in Zion.⁠ 25 He showed the things that would happen through the end of time, and the hidden things before they came.

Texts in conversation

Compare Sirach 48:10 and 4Q521 5:2

Deuterocanon · Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts

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Summary

Sirach draws on Malachi’s promise that Elijah will reunite parents and children. In 4Q521 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the same promise appears as fathers coming to their sons, without naming Elijah.

Passages

Sirach 48:10

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
9 You were taken up in a tempest of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses. 10 You were recorded for reproofs in their seasons, to pacify anger, before it broke out into wrath, to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob. 11 Blessed are those who saw you, and those who have been beautified with love; for we also shall surely live.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

4Q521 5:2

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts · A Messianic Apocalypse
1 and the statute of your kindness, and I will set them free with [… for] 2 it is certain: the fathers are coming to the sons. [Blessed …] 3 whom the blessing of the Lord in his good will […] 4 the land rejoiced in every place […] 5 for all Israel in rejoicing […]
100–50 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q521

References

“... Puech rightly recognizes in the last line a citation of Mai 3:24 (4:6), which says that God will send Elijah before the day of the Lord and "he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fa­ thers." 1 0 1 The same phrase is cited in the praise of Elijah in Sir 48:10. [...] Puech's conclusion from these parallels is that the speaker in this fragment, and the subject of the verb "I will liberate," is the new Elijah (Mai 3:24 [4:6]) or the new Moses (3:22 [4:4]). Puech distinguishes this figure from the messiah, who is referred to in the third person in other fragments. 1 0 2 The only other occurrence of a verb in the first person in 4Q521 is in the long passage from fragments 2 ii+4 cited above: "forever will I cleave to [those who] hope." In that case the subject is presumably the author of the composition. Puech suggests that in fragment 2 iii the subject is also the author of the text "in a sort of vision," perhaps the Teacher of Righteous­ ness speaking as the new Elijah or new Moses. The messiah in 4Q521, then, is "clearly the kingly messiah, whom the prophet announces." 1 0 3 In Puech's view, 4Q521 conforms to the expectation of a prophet and the messiahs of Aaron and Israel, which he takes to be consistent in the Scrolls. [...] It is unlikely, however, that the Teacher or any other human author would claim in the first person to be the liberator. The most plausible sub­ ject in this fragment is surely God, just as God is the subject who sets cap­ tives free in fragment 2 ii (which begins with the reference to the messiah whom heaven and earth will obey). It is true that the first person referent in fragment 2 ii+4 is the human author, but it is not unusual to have vacil­ lation between God and a human author in a prophetic text. Isaiah 61 pro­ vides a relevant example. ...”
John J. Collins, The Scepter and the Star: Messianism in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 136.

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 48:10 and 4Q521 5:2

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