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Sirach

Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus

About this book
Chapter 6

1 Don’t become an enemy instead of a friend; for an evil name will inherit shame and reproach. So it is with the sinner who has a double tongue. 2 Don’t exalt yourself in the counsel of your soul, that your soul not be torn in pieces like a bull. 3 You will eat up your leaves, destroy your fruit, and leave yourself like a dry tree. 4 A wicked soul will destroy him who has it, and will make him a laughing stock to his enemies.

True and False Friendship

5 Sweet words will multiply a man’s friends. A gracious tongue will multiply courtesies. 6 Let those that are at peace with you be many, but your advisers one of a thousand. 7 If you want to gain a friend, get him in a time of testing, and don’t be in a hurry to trust him. 8 For there is a friend just for an occasion. He won’t continue in the day of your affliction. 9 And there is a friend who turns into an enemy. He will reveal strife to your reproach. 10 And there is a friend who is a companion at the table, but he won’t continue in the day of your affliction.⁠ 11 In your prosperity he will be as yourself, and will be bold over your servants. 12 If you are brought low, he will be against you, and will hide himself from your face. 13 Separate yourself from your enemies, and beware of your friends. 14 A faithful friend is a strong defense. He who has found him has found a treasure. 15 There is nothing that can be taken in exchange for a faithful friend. His excellency is beyond price. 16 A faithful friend is a life-saving medicine.⁠ Those who fear the Lord will find him.⁠ 17 He who fears the Lord directs his friendship properly; for as he is, so is his neighbor also.

The Pursuit of Wisdom

18 My son, gather instruction from your youth up. Even when you have gray hair you will find wisdom. 19 Come to her as one who plows and sows and wait for her good fruit;⁠ for your toil will be little in her cultivation, and you will soon eat of her fruit. 20 How exceedingly harsh she is to the unlearned! He who is without understanding will not remain in her. 21 She will rest upon him as a mighty stone of trial. He won’t hesitate to cast her from him. 22 For wisdom is according to her name. She isn’t manifest to many. 23 Give ear, my son, and accept my judgment. Don’t refuse my counsel. 24 Bring your feet into her fetters, and your neck into her chain.⁠ 25 Put your shoulder under her and bear her. Don’t be grieved with her bonds. 26 Come to her with all your soul. Keep her ways with your whole power.⁠ 27 Search and seek, and she will be made known to you. When you get hold of her, don’t let her go. 28 For at the last you will find her rest; and she will be turned for you into gladness. 29 Her fetters will be to you for a covering of strength, and her chains for a robe of glory. 30 For there is a golden ornament upon her, and her bands are a purple cord. 31 You shall put her on as a robe of glory, and shall put her on as a crown of rejoicing. 32 My son, if you are willing, you will be instructed. If you will yield your soul, you will be prudent. 33 If you love to hear, you will receive. If you incline your ear, you will be wise.⁠ 34 Stand in the multitude of the elders. Attach yourself to whomever is wise. 35 Be willing to listen to every godly discourse. Don’t let the proverbs of understanding escape you.⁠ 36 If you see a man of understanding, get to him early. Let your foot wear out the steps of his doors. 37 Let your mind dwell on the ordinances of the Lord and meditate continually on his commandments. He will establish your heart and your desire for wisdom will be given to you.

Texts in conversation

Compare Sirach 6:36 and Methodius, Banquet of the Ten Virgins 1.1

Deuterocanon · Early Christian

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Summary

The Christian theologian Methodius uses Sirach as an authoritative source to teach about wisdom, using its language to emphasize discipline and study and demonstrating how Christian tradition was influenced by Jewish wisdom traditions.

Passages

Sirach 6:36

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
30 For there is a golden ornament upon her, and her bands are a purple cord. 31 You shall put her on as a robe of glory, and shall put her on as a crown of rejoicing. 32 My son, if you are willing, you will be instructed. If you will yield your soul, you will be prudent. 33 If you love to hear, you will receive. If you incline your ear, you will be wise. 34 Stand in the multitude of the elders. Attach yourself to whomever is wise. 35 Be willing to listen to every godly discourse. Don’t let the proverbs of understanding escape you. 36 If you see a man of understanding, get to him early. Let your foot wear out the steps of his doors. 37 Let your mind dwell on the ordinances of the Lord and meditate continually on his commandments. He will establish your heart and your desire for wisdom will be given to you.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

Methodius, Banquet of the Ten Virgins 1.1

Early Christian
Marcella, then, she said, began at once from this point and said: “Virginity is something exceedingly great and wonderful and glorious; and, to speak plainly and in keeping with the Scriptures, this best and most beautiful way of life alone is the richest part of the church, and its flower and its first-fruits. For this reason the Lord too promises to bring into the kingdom of heaven those who have kept themselves virgins, where in the Gospels he gives instruction about the different kinds of eunuchs. For chastity is very rare and hard for human beings to attain, and the more supreme and magnificent it is, the greater the dangers it involves. It needs strong and noble natures, which, turning aside the whole stream of pleasure, steer the chariot of the soul upward on high, not falling short of the goal, until, leaping lightly over the world with the swiftest speed of thought and standing truly on the vault of heaven, they contemplate imperishability itself with pure vision, springing forth from the undefiled bosom of the Almighty. The earth could not produce this drink; heaven alone knows how to make it flow. For virginity must be thought of as walking on earth but touching the heavens. Some, longing for it and looking only to its end, came forward with unwashed feet, imperfect through vulgarity of mind, and turned back halfway along the road, having taken up no thought worthy of the way of life. For it is not only bodies that must be kept uncorrupted, just as temples should not be made more splendid than the images in them; rather, souls, which are the images of the bodies, must be cared for and adorned with righteousness. And they are cared for and cleansed most when, striving eagerly to listen to the divine words, they do not stop until they lay hold of what is true, coming to the doors of the wise. For as with salt the juices of meat are drawn out, and its decaying parts and everything that corrupts it, in the same way all the irrational desires of the body are dried out of the virgin by teachings. For a soul that is not sprinkled, like salt, with the words of Christ must necessarily stink and breed worms, just as David the king, confessing with tears, cried out in the mountains, ‘My wounds stank and festered,’ because he had not dried himself out by salting himself with discipline, but through carelessness was dragged into passion and reeked of adultery. That is why in Leviticus every offering, unless it is first salted with salt, is forbidden to be brought as a whole burnt offering to the Lord God. For all spiritual study of the Scriptures has been given to us as salt, which stings and dries out for our benefit; without it no soul can be offered through the Word to the Almighty. ‘For you are the salt of the earth,’ the Lord said to the apostles. The virgin, then, must always love what is noble and stand out among those foremost in wisdom, and have nothing careless or soft, but think thoughts worthy of virginity, always scouring away with the word the [stains] of pleasure, so that a small unnoticed patch of decay does not breed the worm of licentiousness. ‘For the unmarried woman,’ says blessed Paul, ‘is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord, that she may be holy in both body and spirit.’ But many, thinking that listening is a secondary matter, suppose they are doing a great favor if they lend their ears even briefly. Such women must be excluded; for a petty and low nature, which only pretends to wisdom, should not share in divine teachings. Is it not ridiculous to chatter with women who strain to do everything for things of little worth, so that what they complete may be most exact, but in necessary things, through which the love of self-control grows most, do not think exactness most important?
270–310 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Methodius, Banquet of the Ten Virgins

References

"... Turning to the Western Church, the earliest evidence comes from Irenaeus (died 202), who, although he never quotes from the Book of Sirach, includes quotations from Baruch and the Additions to Daniel in his Against Heresies. He cites these as the works of 'Jeremiah the prophet' and 'Daniel the prophet,' respectively, and also quotes from the Wisdom of Solomon. This suggests that he likely considered the books of the Apocrypha as canonical. Tertullian (died 220) also quotes from our book in works such as Against the Gnostics and On the Exhortation of Chastity, using the same formula, "as it is written," that he employs for the Hebrew Canon. Cyprian (died 258), in his Testimonies and letters, frequently quotes from the Book of Sirach and introduces them with phrases like "as it is written" or "Divine Scripture says." Methodius (circa 311), bishop of Lycia and later Tyre, freely quotes from the Book of Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Baruch, treating them as 'Scripture.' Hilary of Poitiers (died 368) lists the books of the Old Testament in his Prologue to the Book of Psalms, including only the Epistle of Jeremiah from the Apocrypha but adds that some also count the Book of Tobit and the Book of Judith, totaling 24 books to align with the number of Greek letters. Nonetheless, he cites Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon as 'prophets,' implying his belief in their canonicity ..."
R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 1913), 302.

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 6:36 and Methodius, Banquet of the Ten Virgins 1.1

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