Introduction
This book is known by its two names. The first one recalls its author,
Jesus, the son of Sirach and the second name refers to its welcome by
Christians for centuries. It was considered as the epitome of practical
wisdom, more elaborate and more ¡°religious¡± than the Book of Proverbs.
Written in Hebrew, it was later translated into Greek by the grandson of the
author (see the preface of the book). In Jesus¡¯ time, the book existed in
the two languages although it was especially used by Greek synagogues and a
few years later, Jews did not accept it as ¡°Scripture.¡± The Church used the
book although it only knew the Greek version and it was only in the 19th
century that part of the Hebrew text was found. It is slightly different
from the Greek translation that sometimes added a few verses and the
different numbering of the verses added to the confusion. The Hebrew
versions are not necessarily older or more faithful to the original than the
Greek text. In that regard, we have made our choices without prejudice or
absolute rule.
This book consists of two main parts:
¨C Chapters 1¨C42 include seven series of maxims. Each one starts with the
praise of wisdom. The poem on wisdom in chapter 24 is particularly
interesting.
¨C Chapters 43¨C51 begin by praising God whose wisdom shines in the order of
the universe and continue with a description of God¡¯s wise activity through
the great people of the Old Testament.
This book is one of the deuterocanonical books: see p. 1037.