Adult Education Blog

For our final class on this unit (10/31) we will be reading Ben Sira/Sirach/Ecclesiasticus

• Ecclesiasticus, written by Ben Sirach (בן סירא)

  • Also known as Ecclesiasticus or Ben Sira, Sirach was written around 200 BCE in Hebrew by Ben Sira. The work was then translated into Greek by his grandson who added a prologue for the Egyptian Jewish community around the turn of the millenium. It is a work of ethics, similar to Proverbs, but slightly more narrative rather than the series of pithy sayings. 

  • I get it confused with The Alphabet of Ben Sira which is the one that has the Lilith midrash in it. 

  • About half of the translation is available on Sefaria (chapters 2, 8-11, 18-25, 27-29, 31, 36-37, and 39-43 are untranslated or missing): https://www.sefaria.org/Ben_Sira

  • A more complete, but Christian, translation is here.

  • Why wasn't Ben Sira canonized?