119-538: The Book of Sirach ( / ˈ s aɪ r æ k / ), also known as The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus ( / ɪ ˌ k l iː z i ˈ æ s t ɪ k ə s / ), is a Jewish literary work, originally written in Biblical Hebrew . The longest extant wisdom book from antiquity, it consists of ethical teachings, written approximately between 196 and 175 BCE by Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira (Ben Sira),
238-535: A Hellenistic Jewish scribe of the Second Temple period . Ben Sira's grandson translated the text into Koine Greek and added a prologue sometime around 117 BCE. This prologue is generally considered to be the earliest witness to a tripartite canon of the books of the Old Testament and thus the date of the text is the subject of intense scrutiny by biblical scholars . The ability to precisely date
357-620: A Hebrew dialect, though it possessed distinctive Aramaic features. Although Ugaritic shows a large degree of affinity to Hebrew in poetic structure, vocabulary, and some grammar, it lacks some Canaanite features (like the Canaanite shift and the shift */ð/ > /z/ ), and its similarities are more likely a result of either contact or preserved archaism. Hebrew underwent the Canaanite shift, where Proto-Semitic /aː/ tended to shift to /oː/ , perhaps when stressed. Hebrew also shares with
476-482: A Northwest Semitic language, Hebrew shows the shift of initial */w/ to /j/ , a similar independent pronoun system to the other Northwest Semitic languages (with third person pronouns never containing /ʃ/ ), some archaic forms, such as /naħnu/ 'we', first person singular pronominal suffix -i or -ya, and /n/ commonly preceding pronominal suffixes. Case endings are found in Northwest Semitic languages in
595-691: A basis for two important parts of the Jewish liturgy . In the Mahzor (High Holiday prayer book), a medieval Jewish poet may have used the Book of Sirach as the basis for a poem, Mar'e Kohen , in the Yom Kippur musaf ("additional") service for the High Holidays. Yosef Tabori questioned whether this passage in the Book of Sirach is referring at all to Yom Kippur, and thus argued it cannot form
714-653: A biblical text of explicit praise for physicians (chapter 38 ), though other biblical passages take for granted that medical treatment should be used when necessary. This is a direct challenge against the idea that illness and disease were seen as penalties for sin, to be cured only by repentance. As in Ecclesiastes , the author exhibits two opposing tendencies: the faith and the morality of earlier times, and an Epicureanism of modern date. Occasionally Ben Sira digresses to attack theories that he considers dangerous; for example, that man has no freedom of will , and that God
833-469: A later stage of the language. These additions were added after 600 CE; Hebrew had already ceased being used as a spoken language around 200 CE. Biblical Hebrew as reflected in the consonantal text of the Bible and in extra-biblical inscriptions may be subdivided by era. The oldest form of Biblical Hebrew, Archaic Hebrew, is found in poetic sections of the Bible and inscriptions dating to around 1000 BCE,
952-725: A remnant to Jacob, and to David a root of his stock". This references Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah: "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots"; and "In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek…" (Isaiah 11:1, 10). Note: verse numbers may vary slightly between versions. Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew ( Hebrew : עִבְרִית מִקְרָאִית , romanized : ʿiḇrîṯ miqrāʾîṯ ( Ivrit Miqra'it ) or לְשׁוֹן הַמִּקְרָא , ləšôn ham-miqrāʾ ( Leshon ha-Miqra ) ), also called Classical Hebrew ,
1071-777: A superscript ס above the ש to indicate it took the value /s/ , while the Masoretes added the shin dot to distinguish between the two varieties of the letter. The original Hebrew alphabet consisted only of consonants , but the letters א , ה , ו , י , also were used to indicate vowels, known as matres lectionis when used in this function. It is thought that this was a product of phonetic development: for instance, *bayt ('house') shifted to בֵּית in construct state but retained its spelling. While no examples of early Hebrew orthography have been found, older Phoenician and Moabite texts show how First Temple period Hebrew would have been written. Phoenician inscriptions from
1190-484: A vowel in sandhi, as well as Rabbi Saadia Gaon 's attestation to the use of this alternation in Tiberian Aramaic at the beginning of the 10th century CE. The Dead Sea scrolls show evidence of confusion of the phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/ , e.g. חמר ħmr for Masoretic אָמַר /ʔɔˈmar/ 'he said'. However the testimony of Jerome indicates that this was a regionalism and not universal. Confusion of gutturals
1309-588: A word with less or more matres lectionis, respectively. The Hebrew Bible was presumably originally written in a more defective orthography than found in any of the texts known today. Of the extant textual witnesses of the Hebrew Bible, the Masoretic text is generally the most conservative in its use of matres lectionis, with the Samaritan Pentateuch and its forebearers being more full and
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#17327733876951428-649: Is a collection of biblical manuscript texts that are Latin translations of Septuagint and New Testament passages that preceded Jerome's Vulgate . Some of the oldest surviving Vetus Latina versions of the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh) include the Quedlinburg Itala fragment , a 5th-century manuscript containing parts of 1 Samuel , and the Codex Complutensis I , a 10th-century manuscript containing Old Latin readings of
1547-537: Is also evident in the later-developed Tiberian vocalization system. Qumran Hebrew, attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls from ca. 200 BCE to 70 CE, is a continuation of Late Biblical Hebrew. Qumran Hebrew may be considered an intermediate stage between Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew, though Qumran Hebrew shows its own idiosyncratic dialectal features. Dialect variation in Biblical Hebrew
1666-552: Is also not directly indicated by Hebrew orthography but is clearly attested by later developments: It is written with ⟨ ש ⟩ (also used for /ʃ/ ) but later merged with /s/ (normally indicated with ⟨ ס ⟩ ). As a result, three etymologically distinct phonemes can be distinguished through a combination of spelling and pronunciation: /s/ written ⟨ ס ⟩ , /ʃ/ written ⟨ ש ⟩ , and /ś/ (pronounced /ɬ/ but written ⟨ ש ⟩ ). The specific pronunciation of /ś/ as [ɬ]
1785-940: Is an archaic form of the Hebrew language , a language in the Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel , roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea . The term ʿiḇrîṯ "Hebrew" was not used for the language in the Hebrew Bible , which was referred to as שְֹפַת כְּנַעַן śəp̄aṯ kənaʿan "language of Canaan" or יְהוּדִית Yəhûḏîṯ , " Judean ", but it
1904-530: Is attested to by the well-known shibboleth incident of Judges 12:6, where Jephthah 's forces from Gilead caught Ephraimites trying to cross the Jordan River by making them say שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת š ibboleṯ ('ear of corn') The Ephraimites' identity was given away by their pronunciation: סִבֹּ֤לֶת s ibboleṯ . The apparent conclusion is that the Ephraimite dialect had /s/ for standard /ʃ/ . As an alternative explanation, it has been suggested that
2023-578: Is based on comparative evidence ( /ɬ/ is the corresponding Proto-Semitic phoneme and still attested in Modern South Arabian languages as well as early borrowings (e.g. balsam < Greek balsamon < Hebrew baśam ). /ɬ/ began merging with /s/ in Late Biblical Hebrew, as indicated by interchange of orthographic ⟨ ש ⟩ and ⟨ ס ⟩ , possibly under the influence of Aramaic, and this became
2142-425: Is disputed, likely ejective or pharyngealized . Earlier Biblical Hebrew possessed three consonants not distinguished in writing and later merged with other consonants. The stop consonants developed fricative allophones under the influence of Aramaic , and these sounds eventually became marginally phonemic . The pharyngeal and glottal consonants underwent weakening in some regional dialects, as reflected in
2261-517: Is due to its late authorship, although the canon was not yet closed at the time of Ben Sira. For example, the Book of Daniel was included in the canon, despite the fact that its date of composition (between 168 and 164 BCE) was later than that of the Book of Sirach. Others have suggested that Ben Sira's self-identification as the author precluded it from attaining canonical status, which was reserved for works that were attributed (or could be attributed) to
2380-545: Is indifferent to the actions of mankind and does not reward virtue. Some of the refutations of these views are developed at considerable length. Throughout the text runs the prayer of Israel imploring God to gather together his scattered children, to bring to fulfillment the predictions of the Prophets, and to have mercy upon his Temple and his people. The book concludes with a justification of God, whose wisdom and greatness are said to be revealed in all God's works as well as in
2499-481: Is more consistent in using the definite article ה- , the accusative marker את , distinguishing between simple and waw-consecutive verb forms, and in using particles like אשר and כי rather than asyndeton . Biblical Hebrew from after the Babylonian exile in 587 BCE is known as 'Late Biblical Hebrew'. Late Biblical Hebrew shows Aramaic influence in phonology, morphology, and lexicon, and this trend
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#17327733876952618-484: Is no easily recognizable structure in Sirach; in many parts it is difficult to discover a logical progression of thought or to discern the principles of arrangement. However, a series of six poems about the search for and attainment of wisdom (1:1–10, 4:11–19; 6:18–37; 14:20–15:10; 24:1–33; and 38:24–39:11) divide the book into something resembling chapters, although the divisions are not thematically based. The exceptions are
2737-563: Is observed by noting the preservation of the double phonemes of each letter in one Sephardic reading tradition, and by noting that these phonemes are distinguished consistently in the Septuagint of the Pentateuch (e.g. Isaac יצחק Yīṣ ḥ āq = Ἰσαάκ versus Rachel רחל Rā ḫ ēl = Ῥαχήλ ), but this becomes more sporadic in later books and is generally absent in translations of Ezra and Nehemiah . The phoneme /ɬ/ ,
2856-543: Is often used in a messianic and Davidic sense (e.g. Ezekiel 29:21, Psalms 132:17, Zechariah 6:12, Jeremiah 33:15). It is also used in the Benedictus to refer to Jesus ("and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David"). Another verse (47:22) that Christians interpret messianically begins by again referencing 2 Samuel 7. This verse speaks of Solomon and goes on to say that David's line will continue forever. The verse ends stating that "he gave
2975-567: Is often written as ־יא in analogy to words like היא , הביא , e.g. כיא , sometimes מיא . ⟨ ה ⟩ is found finally in forms like חוטה (Tiberian חוטא ), קורה (Tiberian קורא ) while ⟨ א ⟩ may be used for an a-quality vowel in final position (e.g. עליהא ) and in medial position (e.g. יאתום ). Pre-Samaritan and Samaritan texts show full spellings in many categories (e.g. כוחי vs. Masoretic כחי in Genesis 49:3) but only rarely show full spelling of
3094-480: Is the Hebrew Bible. Epigraphic materials from the area of Israelite territory are written in a form of Hebrew called Inscriptional Hebrew, although this is meagerly attested. According to Waltke & O'Connor, Inscriptional Hebrew "is not strikingly different from the Hebrew preserved in the Masoretic text." The damp climate of Israel caused the rapid deterioration of papyrus and parchment documents, in contrast to
3213-507: Is viewed as a Central Semitic innovation. Some argue that /s, z, sˤ/ were affricated ( /ts, dz, tsˤ/ ), but Egyptian starts using s in place of earlier ṯ to represent Canaanite s around 1000 BC. It is likely that Canaanite was already dialectally split by that time, and the northern Early Phoenician dialect that the Greeks were in contact with could have preserved the affricate pronunciation until c. 800 BC at least, unlike
3332-666: The Aramaic script , a separate descendant of the Phoenician script, became widespread throughout the region, gradually displacing Paleo-Hebrew. The oldest documents that have been found in the Aramaic Script are fragments of the scrolls of Exodus, Samuel, and Jeremiah found among the Dead Sea scrolls, dating from the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE. It seems that the earlier biblical books were originally written in
3451-481: The Book of Ruth , Book of Esther , Book of Tobit , Book of Judith , and 1-2 Maccabees. After comparing readings for Luke 24:4–5 in Vetus Latina manuscripts, Bruce Metzger counted "at least 27 variant readings in Vetus Latina manuscripts that have survived" for this passage alone. When Jerome undertook the revision of Latin translations of Old Testament texts in the late 4th century, he checked
3570-640: The Council of Rome (382 AD), the Synod of Hippo (in 393), followed by the Council of Carthage (397) , the Council of Carthage (419) Quinisext Council (692), and the Council of Florence (1442) all regarded it as a canonical book, although Jerome , Rufinus of Aquileia and the Council of Laodicea ranked it instead as an ecclesiastical book. In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Church Fathers recommended
3689-628: The Hasmonean dynasty . Later, the Romans ended their independence, making Herod the Great their governor. A revolt against the Romans led to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and the second Bar Kokhba revolt in 132–135 led to a purge and expulsion of the Jewish population of Judea, the establishment of a new province of Syria Palaestina , and the rebuilding of Jerusalem as
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3808-836: The Latin Church Fathers , beginning with Cyprian , termed it Ecclesiasticus because it was frequently read in churches, leading the Latin Church Fathers to call it Liber Ecclesiasticus ("Church Book"). Similarly, the New Latin Vulgate and many modern English translations of the Apocrypha use the title Ecclesiasticus , literally "of the Church" because of its frequent use in Christian teaching and worship. As with other wisdom books , there
3927-540: The Masoretic Text (𝕸) was transmitted in manuscript form and underwent redaction in the Second Temple period, but its earliest portions (parts of Amos , Isaiah , Hosea and Micah ) can be dated to the late 8th to early 7th centuries BCE. Biblical Hebrew has several different writing systems . From around the 12th century BCE until the 6th century BCE, writers employed the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet . This
4046-822: The Septuagint (the 2nd-century BCE Greek version of the Hebrew Bible), which became the foundation of the early Christian canon. Furthermore, the many manuscript fragments discovered in the Cairo Genizah evince its authoritative status among Egyptian Jewry until well into the Middle Ages . The Book of Sirach was read and quoted as authoritative from the beginning of the rabbinic period . The Babylonian Talmud and other works of rabbinic literature occasionally paraphrase Ben Sira (e.g., Sanhedrin 100b, Hagigah 13a, Bava Batra 98b, Niddah 16b, etc.), but it does not mention his name. These quotes found in
4165-457: The Siloam inscription ), and generally also includes later vocalization traditions for the Hebrew Bible's consonantal text, most commonly the early medieval Tiberian vocalization. The archeological record for the prehistory of Biblical Hebrew is far more complete than the record of Biblical Hebrew itself. Early Northwest Semitic (ENWS) materials are attested from 2350 BCE to 1200 BCE,
4284-552: The Vetus Latina text in the Codex Bezae : The Vetus Latina text survives in places in the Catholic liturgy , such as the following verse well known from Christmas carols, Luke 2:14: The Vetus Latina text means, "Glory [belongs] to God among the high, and peace [belongs] to men of good will on earth". The Vulgate text means "Glory [belongs] to God among the most high and peace among men of good will on earth". Probably
4403-673: The Vulgate (the Latin translation produced by Jerome in the late 4th century). The Vetus Latina translations continued to be used alongside the Vulgate, but eventually the Vulgate became the standard Latin Bible used by the Catholic Church , especially after the Council of Trent (1545–1563) affirmed the Vulgate translation as authoritative for the text of Catholic Bibles . However, the Vetus Latina texts survive in some parts of
4522-504: The fifth century . The language of the Hebrew Bible reflects various stages of the Hebrew language in its consonantal skeleton , as well as a vocalization system which was added in the Middle Ages by the Masoretes . There is also some evidence of regional dialectal variation, including differences between Biblical Hebrew as spoken in the northern Kingdom of Israel and in the southern Kingdom of Judah . The consonantal text called
4641-752: The 10th century BCE do not indicate matres lectiones in the middle or the end of a word, for example לפנ and ז for later לפני and זה , similarly to the Hebrew Gezer Calendar , which has for instance שערמ for שעורים and possibly ירח for ירחו . Matres lectionis were later added word-finally, for instance the Mesha inscription has בללה, בנתי for later בלילה, בניתי ; however at this stage they were not yet used word-medially, compare Siloam inscription זדה versus אש (for later איש ). The relative terms defective and full / plene are used to refer to alternative spellings of
4760-547: The 10th century BCE. The 15 cm x 16.5 cm (5.9 in x 6.5 in) trapezoid pottery sherd ( ostracon ) has five lines of text written in ink in the Proto-Canaanite alphabet (the old form which predates both the Paleo-Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets). The tablet is written from left to right, suggesting that Hebrew writing was still in the formative stage. The Israelite tribes who settled in
4879-465: The 11th and 12th centuries, were found in the Cairo Geniza (a synagogue storage room for damaged manuscripts). Although none of these manuscripts are complete, together they provide the text for about two-thirds of the Book of Sirach. According to scholars including Solomon Schechter and Frederic G. Kenyon , these findings support the assertion that the book was originally written in Hebrew. In
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4998-537: The 12th century BCE, reflecting the language's twenty-two consonantal phonemes. The 22 letters of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet numbered less than the consonant phonemes of ancient Biblical Hebrew; in particular, the letters ⟨ ח, ע, ש ⟩ could each mark two different phonemes. After a sound shift the letters ח , ע could only mark one phoneme, but (except in Samaritan Hebrew) ש still marked two. The old Babylonian vocalization system wrote
5117-728: The 1950s and 1960s, three fragments of parchment scrolls of the Book of Sirach written in Hebrew were discovered near the Dead Sea . The largest scroll, Mas1H (MasSir), was discovered in casemate room 1109 at Masada , the Jewish fortress destroyed by the Romans in 73 CE. This scroll contains Sirach 39:27–44:17. The other two scroll fragments were found at Qumran . One of these, the Great Psalms Scroll (11Q5 or 11QPs), contains Sirach chapter 51 (verses 13-20, and 30). The other fragment, 2Q18 (2QSir), contains Sirach 6:14–15, 20–31. These early Hebrew texts are in substantial agreement with
5236-515: The 7th century BCE, and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew /χ, ʁ/ c. 200 BCE. It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE. After a certain point this alternation became contrastive in word-medial and final position (though bearing low functional load ), but in word-initial position they remained allophonic. This is evidenced both by the Tiberian vocalization's consistent use of word-initial spirants after
5355-491: The Bible called " Apocrypha ". The Anglican tradition considers the book (which was published with other Greek Jewish books in a separate section of the King James Bible ) among the biblical apocrypha as deuterocanonical books, and reads them "for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet [does] not apply them to establish any doctrine". The Lutheran Churches take a similar position. The Book of Sirach
5474-528: The Book of Sirach among other deuterocanonical books for edification and instruction. The Apostolic Canons (recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church during the 5th and 6th centuries) also described "the Wisdom of the very learned Sirach" as a recommended text for teaching young people. The Catholic Church then reaffirmed The Book of Sirach and the other deuterocanonical books in 1546 during
5593-416: The Book of Sirach in Biblical Hebrew around 180 BCE. Among all Old Testament and apocryphal writers, Ben Sira is unique in that he is the only one to have claimed authorship of his work. The Book of Sirach is generally dated to the first quarter of the 2nd century BCE. The text refers in the past tense to "the high priest, Simon son of Onias" (chapter 50:1 ). This passage almost certainly refers to Simon
5712-602: The Canaanite languages the shifts */ð/ > /z/ , */θʼ/ and */ɬʼ/ > /sʼ/ , widespread reduction of diphthongs, and full assimilation of non-final /n/ to the following consonant if word final, i.e. בת /bat/ from *bant. There is also evidence of a rule of assimilation of /j/ to the following coronal consonant in pre-tonic position, shared by Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic. Typical Canaanite words in Hebrew include: גג "roof" שלחן "table" חלון "window" ישן "old (thing)" זקן "old (person)" and גרש "expel". Morphological Canaanite features in Hebrew include
5831-841: The Greek alphabet transcription of the Hebrew biblical text contained in the Secunda (3rd century CE, likely a copy of a preexisting text from before 100 BCE ). In the 7th and 8th centuries CE various systems of vocalic notation were developed to indicate vowels in the biblical text. The most prominent, best preserved, and the only system still in use, is the Tiberian vocalization system, created by scholars known as Masoretes around 850 CE. There are also various extant manuscripts making use of less common vocalization systems ( Babylonian and Palestinian ), known as superlinear vocalizations because their vocalization marks are placed above
5950-456: The Hebrew texts discovered in Cairo, although there are numerous minor textual variants. With these findings, scholars are now more confident that the Cairo texts are reliable witnesses to the Hebrew original. Although excluded from the Jewish canon, the Book of Sirach was well-known among Jews during the late Second Temple period . The Greek translation made by Ben Sira's grandson was included in
6069-552: The High Priest , the son of Onias II , who died in 196 BCE. Because the struggles between Simon's successors ( Onias III , Jason , and Menelaus ) are not alluded to in the book, nor is the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (who acceded to the throne in 175 BCE), the book must therefore have been written between 196 and 175 BCE. The person who translated the Book of Sirach into Koine Greek states in his prologue that he
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#17327733876956188-733: The Israelites established a unified kingdom in Canaan at the beginning of the first millennium BCE, which later split into the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south after a disputed succession. In 722 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed Israel and some members of the upper class escaped to Judah. In 586 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire destroyed Judah . The Judahite upper classes were exiled and Solomon's Temple
6307-600: The Near East, and a derivation from the root עבר "to pass", alluding to crossing over the Jordan River. Jews also began referring to Hebrew as לשון הקדש "the Holy Tongue" in Mishnaic Hebrew. The term Classical Hebrew may include all pre-medieval dialects of Hebrew, including Mishnaic Hebrew, or it may be limited to Hebrew contemporaneous with the Hebrew Bible. The term Biblical Hebrew refers to pre-Mishnaic dialects (sometimes excluding Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew). The term Biblical Hebrew may or may not include extra-biblical texts, such as inscriptions (e.g.
6426-427: The Paleo-Hebrew script, while the later books were written directly in the later Assyrian script. Some Qumran texts written in the Assyrian script write the tetragrammaton and some other divine names in Paleo-Hebrew, and this practice is also found in several Jewish-Greek biblical translations. While spoken Hebrew continued to evolve into Mishnaic Hebrew , A number of regional "book-hand" styles were put into use for
6545-429: The Phoenician script were "a curving to the left of the downstrokes in the "long-legged" letter-signs... the consistent use of a Waw with a concave top, [and an] x-shaped Taw." The oldest inscriptions in Paleo-Hebrew script are dated to around the middle of the 9th century BCE, the most famous being the Mesha Stele in the Moabite language (which might be considered a dialect of Hebrew). The ancient Hebrew script
6664-494: The Proto-Semitic sibilant *s 1 , transcribed with šin and traditionally reconstructed as * /ʃ/ , had been originally * /s/ while another sibilant *s 3 , transcribed with sameḵ and traditionally reconstructed as /s/ , had been initially /ts/ ; later on, a push-type chain shift changed *s 3 /ts/ to /s/ and pushed s 1 /s/ to /ʃ/ in many dialects (e.g. Gileadite ) but not others (e.g. Ephraimite), where *s 1 and *s 3 merged into /s/ . Hebrew, as spoken in
6783-434: The Qumran tradition showing the most liberal use of vowel letters. The Masoretic text mostly uses vowel letters for long vowels, showing the tendency to mark all long vowels except for word-internal /aː/ . In the Qumran tradition, back vowels are usually represented by ⟨ ו ⟩ whether short or long. ⟨ י ⟩ is generally used for both long [iː] and [eː] ( אבילים , מית ), and final [iː]
6902-434: The Qumran type. Presumably, the vowels of Biblical Hebrew were not indicated in the original text, but various sources attest to them at various stages of development. Greek and Latin transcriptions of words from the biblical text provide early evidence of the nature of Biblical Hebrew vowels. In particular, there is evidence from the rendering of proper nouns in the Koine Greek Septuagint (3rd–2nd centuries BCE ) and
7021-429: The Samaritan tradition, with vowels absent in some traditions color-coded. The following sections present the vowel changes that Biblical Hebrew underwent, in approximate chronological order. Proto-Semitic is the ancestral language of all the Semitic languages , and in traditional reconstructions possessed 29 consonants; 6 monophthong vowels, consisting of three qualities and two lengths, */a aː i iː u uː/ , in which
7140-413: The Septuagint and Vetus Latina translations against the Hebrew texts that were then available. He broke with church tradition and translated most of the Old Testament of his Vulgate from Hebrew sources rather than from the Greek Septuagint. His choice was severely criticized by Augustine , his contemporary; a flood of still less moderate criticism came from those who regarded Jerome as a forger. While on
7259-485: The Talmud correspond very closely to those found in the three scroll fragments of the Hebrew version of the Book of Sirach found at Qumran. Tractate Sanhedrin 100b records an unresolved debate between R'Joseph and Abaye as to whether it is forbidden to read the Book of Sirach, wherein Abaye repeatedly draws parallels between statements in Sirach cited by R'Joseph as objectionable and similar statements appearing in canonical books. The Book of Sirach may have been used as
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#17327733876957378-481: The Tiberian system; for instance, the Sephardic tradition's distinction between qamatz gadol and qatan is likely pre-Tiberian. However, the only orthographic system used to mark vowels is the Tiberian vocalization. The phonology as reconstructed for Biblical Hebrew is as follows: The phonetic nature of some Biblical Hebrew consonants is disputed. The so-called "emphatics" were likely pharyngealized , but possibly velarized. The pharyngealization of emphatic consonants
7497-501: The Tiberian tradition /ħ ʕ h ʔ r/ cannot be geminate; historically first /r ʔ/ degeminated, followed by /ʕ/ , /h/ , and finally /ħ/ , as evidenced by changes in the quality of the preceding vowel. The vowel system of Hebrew has changed considerably over time. The following vowels are those reconstructed for the earliest stage of Hebrew, those attested by the Secunda, those of the various vocalization traditions ( Tiberian and varieties of Babylonian and Palestinian ), and those of
7616-413: The author exhibits little compassion for women and slaves. He advocates distrust of and possessiveness over women, and the harsh treatment of slaves (which presupposes the validity of slavery as an institution), positions which are not only difficult for modern readers, but cannot be completely reconciled with the social milieu at the time of its composition. The Book of Sirach contains the only instance in
7735-412: The basis of this poem. Some early 20th-century scholars also argued that the vocabulary and framework used by the Book of Sirach formed the basis of the most important of all Jewish prayers, the Amidah , but that conclusion is disputed as well. Current scholarship takes a more conservative approach. On one hand, scholars find that "Ben Sira links Torah and wisdom with prayer in a manner that calls to mind
7854-442: The catalogue of famous men in the Book of Sirach as containing several messianic references. The first occurs during the verses on David . Sirach 47:11 reads "The Lord took away his sins, and exalted his power for ever; he gave him the covenant of kings and a throne of glory in Israel." This references the covenant of 2 Samuel 7, which pointed toward the Messiah. "Power" (Hebrew qeren ) is literally translated as 'horn'. This word
7973-427: The common language in the north, in Galilee and Samaria . Hebrew remained in use in Judah, but the returning exiles brought back Aramaic influence, and Aramaic was used for communicating with other ethnic groups during the Persian period. Alexander the Great conquered the province in 332 BCE, beginning the period of Hellenistic (Greek) domination. During the Hellenistic period , Judea became independent under
8092-399: The composition of Sirach within a few years given the autobiographical hints of Ben Sira and his grandson (author of the introduction to the work) provides great insight regarding the historical development and evolution of the Jewish canon. Despite containing the oldest known list of Jewish canonical texts, the Book of Sirach itself is not part of the Jewish canon . Some authors suggest this
8211-427: The composition of Sirach within a few years provides great insight into the historical development and evolution of the Jewish canon . Although the Book of Sirach is not included in the Hebrew Bible , it is included in the Septuagint . Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira (Ben Sira, or—according to the Greek text—"Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem") was a Hellenistic Jewish scribe of the Second Temple period . He wrote
8330-403: The dry environment of Egypt, and the survival of the Hebrew Bible may be attributed to scribal determination in preserving the text through copying. No manuscript of the Hebrew Bible dates to before 400 BCE, although two silver rolls (the Ketef Hinnom scrolls ) from the seventh or sixth century BCE show a version of the Priestly Blessing . Vowel and cantillation marks were added to
8449-619: The early Monarchic Period . This stage is also known as Old Hebrew or Paleo-Hebrew, and is the oldest stratum of Biblical Hebrew. The oldest known artifacts of Archaic Biblical Hebrew are various sections of the Tanakh , including the Song of Moses ( Exodus 15) and the Song of Deborah ( Judges 5). Biblical poetry uses a number of distinct lexical items, for example חזה for prose ראה 'see', כביר for גדול 'great'. Some have cognates in other Northwest Semitic languages, for example פעל 'do' and חָרוּץ 'gold' which are common in Canaanite and Ugaritic. Grammatical differences include
8568-637: The effect of the law of attenuation whereby /a/ in closed unstressed syllables became /i/ . All of these systems together are used to reconstruct the original vocalization of Biblical Hebrew. At an early stage, in documents written in the paleo-Hebrew script, words were divided by short vertical lines and later by dots, as reflected by the Mesha Stone, the Siloam inscription, the Ophel inscription, and paleo-Hebrew script documents from Qumran. Word division
8687-691: The end of the Bronze Age . The Northwest Semitic languages, including Hebrew, differentiated noticeably during the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE), although in its earliest stages Biblical Hebrew was not highly differentiated from Ugaritic and the Canaanite of the Amarna letters . Hebrew developed during the latter half of the second millennium BCE between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea , an area known as Canaan . The Deuteronomic history says
8806-529: The first millennium BCE ( יין = /ˈjajin/ ). The word play in Amos 8 :1–2 כְּלוּב קַ֫יִץ... בָּא הַקֵּץ may reflect this: given that Amos was addressing the population of the Northern Kingdom, the vocalization *קֵיץ would be more forceful. Other possible Northern features include use of שֶ- 'who, that', forms like דֵעָה 'to know' rather than דַעַת and infinitives of certain verbs of
8925-503: The first two chapters, whose reflections on wisdom and fear of God provide the theological framework for what follows, and the last nine chapters, which function as a sort of climax, first in an extended praise of God's glory as manifested through creation (42:15–43:33) and second in the celebration of the heroes of ancient Israel's history dating back to before the Great Flood through contemporary times (see previous section). Despite
9044-697: The form עֲשוֹ 'to do' rather than עֲשוֹת . The Samaria ostraca also show שת for standard שנה 'year', as in Aramaic. The guttural phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/ merged over time in some dialects. This was found in Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew, but Jerome (d. 420) attested to the existence of contemporaneous Hebrew speakers who still distinguished pharyngeals. Samaritan Hebrew also shows a general attrition of these phonemes, though /ʕ ħ/ are occasionally preserved as [ʕ] . The earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, found at Khirbet Qeiyafa , dates to
9163-541: The fourth session of the Council of Trent , and attached an excommunication to the denial of their scriptural status. Catholic canonical recognition only extends to the Greek text. Because it was excluded from the Jewish canon, the Book of Sirach was not counted as being canonical in Christian denominations originating from the Protestant Reformation , although some retained the book in an appendix to
9282-406: The history of Israel. The book ends with the author's attestation, followed by two hymns (chapter 51 ), the latter a sort of alphabetical acrostic . Of particular interest to biblical scholars are Chapters 44–50 , in which Ben Sira praises "famous men, our ancestors in their generations", starting from the antediluvian Enoch and continuing through to Simon , son of Onias (300–270 BCE). Within
9401-633: The kinds of circles which produced Ben Sira and the Dead Sea Scrolls ....". Some of the earliest Christian writings, including those of the Apostolic Fathers , reference the Book of Sirach. For example, Didache 4:7 and Barnabas 19:9 both appear to reference Sirach 4:31 . Although the Book of Sirach is not quoted directly, there are many apparent references to it in the New Testament . For example: Some Christians regard
9520-455: The lack of structure, there are certain themes running through the book which reappear at various points. The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha identifies ten major recurring topics: Some scholars contend that verse 50:1 seems to have formed the original ending of the text, and that Chapters 50 (from verse 2) and 51 are later interpolations. The Book of Sirach is a collection of ethical teachings that closely resembles Proverbs , except that—unlike
9639-612: The land of Israel used a late form of the Proto-Sinaitic Alphabet (known as Proto-Canaanite when found in Israel) around the 12th century BCE, which developed into Early Phoenician and Early Paleo-Hebrew as found in the Gezer calendar ( c. 10th century BCE ). This script developed into the Paleo-Hebrew script in the 10th or 9th centuries BCE. The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet's main differences from
9758-529: The language יהודית "Judaean, Judahite" In the Hellenistic period , Greek writings use the names Hebraios , Hebraïsti and in Mishnaic Hebrew we find עברית 'Hebrew' and לשון עברית "Hebrew language". The origin of this term is obscure; suggested origins include the biblical Eber , the ethnonyms ʿApiru , Ḫabiru, and Ḫapiru found in sources from Egypt and
9877-464: The later views of the Rabbis", and that the Jewish liturgy echoes the Book of Sirach in the "use of hymns of praise, supplicatory prayers and benedictions, as well as the occurrence of [Biblical] words and phrases [that] take on special forms and meanings." However, they stop short of concluding a direct relationship existed; rather, what "seems likely is that the Rabbis ultimately borrowed extensively from
9996-403: The latter—it is presented as the work of a single author and not as an anthology of maxims or aphorisms drawn from various sources. The teachings of the Book of Sirach are intended to apply to all people regardless of circumstances. Many of them are rules of courtesy and politeness, and they contain advice and instruction as to the duties of man toward himself and others, especially the poor and
10115-533: The letters. In addition, the Samaritan reading tradition is independent of these systems and was occasionally notated with a separate vocalization system. These systems often record vowels at different stages of historical development; for example, the name of the Judge Samson is recorded in Greek as Σαμψών Sampsōn with the first vowel as /a/ , while Tiberian שִמְשוֹן /ʃimʃon/ with /i/ shows
10234-617: The liturgy (e.g., the Pater Noster ). As the English translation of Vetus Latina is "Old Latin", they are also sometimes referred to as the Old Latin Bible , although they are written in the form of Latin known as Late Latin , not that known as Old Latin . The Vetus Latina manuscripts that are preserved today are dated from AD 350 to the 13th century. There is no single " Vetus Latina Bible". Instead, Vetus Latina
10353-430: The long vowels occurred only in open syllables; and two diphthongs */aj aw/ . The stress system of Proto-Semitic is unknown but it is commonly described as being much like the system of Classical Latin or the modern pronunciation of Classical Arabic : If the penultimate (second last) syllable is light (has a short vowel followed by a single consonant), stress goes on the antepenult (third to last); otherwise, it goes on
10472-460: The masculine plural marker -ם , first person singular pronoun אנכי , interrogative pronoun מי , definite article ה- (appearing in the first millennium BCE), and third person plural feminine verbal marker -ת . Biblical Hebrew as preserved in the Hebrew Bible is composed of multiple linguistic layers. The consonantal skeleton of the text is the most ancient, while the cantillation and modern vocalization are later additions reflecting
10591-676: The modern Samaritan Hebrew reading tradition. The vowel system of Biblical Hebrew changed over time and is reflected differently in the ancient Greek and Latin transcriptions, medieval vocalization systems, and modern reading traditions. Biblical Hebrew had a typical Semitic morphology with nonconcatenative morphology , arranging Semitic roots into patterns to form words. Biblical Hebrew distinguished two genders (masculine, feminine), three numbers (singular, plural, and uncommonly, dual). Verbs were marked for voice and mood , and had two conjugations which may have indicated aspect and/or tense (a matter of debate). The tense or aspect of verbs
10710-566: The more southern Canaanite dialects (like Hebrew) that the Egyptians were in contact with, so that there is no contradiction within this argument. Originally, the Hebrew letters ⟨ ח ⟩ and ⟨ ע ⟩ each represented two possible phonemes, uvular and pharyngeal, with the distinction unmarked in Hebrew orthography. However the uvular phonemes /χ/ ח and /ʁ/ ע merged with their pharyngeal counterparts /ħ/ ח and /ʕ/ ע respectively c. 200 BCE. This
10829-454: The musical motifs used in formal recitation of the text. While the Babylonian and Palestinian reading traditions are extinct, various other systems of pronunciation have evolved over time, notably the Yemenite , Sephardi , Ashkenazi , and Samaritan traditions. Modern Hebrew pronunciation is also used by some to read biblical texts. The modern reading traditions do not stem solely from
10948-509: The northern Kingdom of Israel, known as Israelian Hebrew , shows phonological, lexical, and grammatical differences from southern dialects. The northern dialect spoken around Samaria shows a more frequent simplification of /aj/ into /eː/ as attested by the Samaria ostraca (8th century BCE), e.g. ין (= /jeːn/ < */jajn/ 'wine'), while the southern or Judean dialect instead adds in an epenthetic vowel /i/ , added halfway through
11067-616: The official language of Israel . Currently, Classical Hebrew is generally taught in public schools in Israel and Biblical Hebrew forms are sometimes used in Modern Hebrew literature, much as archaic and biblical constructions are used in Modern English literature. Since Modern Hebrew contains many biblical elements, Biblical Hebrew is fairly intelligible to Modern Hebrew speakers. The primary source of Biblical Hebrew material
11186-459: The older consonantal layer of the Bible between 600 CE and the beginning of the 10th century. The scholars who preserved the pronunciation of the Bibles were known as the Masoretes . The most well-preserved system that was developed, and the only one still in religious use, is the Tiberian vocalization, but both Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations are also attested. The Palestinian system
11305-475: The one hand he argued for the superiority of the Hebrew texts in correcting the Septuagint on both philological and theological grounds, on the other, in the context of accusations of heresy against him, Jerome would acknowledge the Septuagint texts as well. Below are some comparisons of the Vetus Latina with text from critical editions of the Vulgate. The following comparison is of Luke 6:1–4, taken from
11424-518: The oppressed, as well as toward society and the state, and most of all toward God. Wisdom, in Ben Sira's view, is synonymous with submission to the will of God , and sometimes is identified in the text with adherence to the Mosaic law . The question of which sayings originated with the Book of Sirach is open to debate, although scholars tend to regard Ben Sira as a compiler or anthologist. By contrast,
11543-450: The penult. Vetus Latina Vetus Latina ("Old Latin" in Latin ), also known as Vetus Itala ("Old Italian"), Itala ("Italian") and Old Italic , and denoted by the siglum L {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {L}}} , is the collective name given to the Latin translations of biblical texts (both Old Testament and New Testament ) that preceded
11662-427: The prayer for Simon and broadened its application ("may He entrust to us his mercy") to avoid closing a work praising God's covenanted faithfulness on an unanswered prayer. The Greek version of the Book of Sirach is found in many codices of the Septuagint . The Koine Greek translation was accepted in the Septuagint under the abbreviated name of the author: Sirakh ( Σιραχ ). Some Greek manuscripts give as
11781-488: The prophets, or that it was denied entry to the canon as a rabbinical counter-reaction to its embrace by the nascent Christian community . The Book of Sirach is accepted as part of the canon by Catholics , Eastern Orthodox , and Oriental Orthodox Christians. It was cited in some writings in early Christianity . Clement of Alexandria and Origen quote from it repeatedly, as from a γραφή (Scripture). Augustine of Hippo ( c. 397 ), Pope Innocent I (405),
11900-460: The proto-Semitic phoneme */θ/ , which shifted to /ʃ/ in most dialects of Hebrew, may have been retained in the Hebrew of the Transjordan (however, there is evidence that שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת 's Proto-Semitic ancestor had initial consonant š (whence Hebrew /ʃ/ ), contradicting this theory; for example, שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת 's proto-Semitic ancestor has been reconstructed as * š u(n)bul-at- . ); or that
12019-504: The purpose of Torah manuscripts and occasionally other literary works, distinct from the calligraphic styles used mainly for private purposes. The Mizrahi and Ashkenazi book-hand styles were later adapted to printed fonts after the invention of the printing press. The modern Hebrew alphabet , also known as the Assyrian or Square script, appears a descendant of the Aramaic alphabet. The Phoenician script had dropped five characters by
12138-479: The roman colonia of Aelia Capitolina . Hebrew after the Second Temple period evolved into Mishnaic Hebrew, which ceased being spoken and developed into a literary language around 200 CE. Hebrew continued to be used as a literary and liturgical language in the form of Medieval Hebrew . The revival of the Hebrew language as a vernacular began in the 19th century, culminating in Modern Hebrew becoming
12257-521: The rule in Mishnaic Hebrew. In all Jewish reading traditions /ɬ/ and /s/ have merged completely; however in Samaritan Hebrew /ɬ/ has instead merged with /ʃ/ . Allophonic spirantization of /b ɡ d k p t/ to [v ɣ ð x f θ] (known as begadkefat spirantization) developed sometime during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew under the influence of Aramaic. This probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes /θ, ð/ disappeared in
12376-462: The second millennium BCE, but disappear almost totally afterwards. Mimation is absent in singular nouns, but is often retained in the plural, as in Hebrew. The Northwest Semitic languages formed a dialect continuum in the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE), with Phoenician and Aramaic on each extreme. Hebrew is classed with Phoenician in the Canaanite subgroup, which also includes Ammonite , Edomite , and Moabite . Moabite might be considered
12495-556: The text of these chapters, Ben Sira identifies, either directly or indirectly, each of the books of the Hebrew Bible that would eventually become canonical (all of the five books of the Torah , the eight books of the Nevi'im , and six of the eleven books of the Ketuvim ). The only books that are not referenced are Ezra , Daniel , Ruth , Esther , and perhaps Chronicles . The ability to date
12614-510: The throne in the year 170 BCE, the translator must therefore have gone to Egypt in 132 BCE. Ben Sira's grandson completed his translation and added the prologue circa 117 BCE, around the time of the death of Ptolemy VIII. At that time, the usurping Hasmonean dynasty had ousted the heirs of Simon II after long struggles and was finally in control of the High Priesthood . A comparison of the Hebrew and Greek versions shows that he altered
12733-485: The time. They initially indicated only consonants, but certain letters, known by the Latin term matres lectionis , became increasingly used to mark vowels . In the Middle Ages, various systems of diacritics were developed to mark the vowels in Hebrew manuscripts; of these, only the Tiberian vocalization is still widely used. Biblical Hebrew possessed a series of emphatic consonants whose precise articulation
12852-481: The title the "Wisdom of Iēsous Son of Sirakh " or in short the "Wisdom of Sirakh ". The Old Latin Bible was based on the Septuagint, and simply transliterated the Greek title into Latin letters: Sirach . In the Latin Vulgate , the book is called Sapientia Jesu Filii Sirach ("The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach"). The Greek Church Fathers also called it the "All-Virtuous Wisdom", while
12971-465: The use of זה , זוֹ , and זוּ as relative particles, negative בל , and various differences in verbal and pronominal morphology and syntax. Later pre-exilic Biblical Hebrew (such as is found in prose sections of the Pentateuch, Nevi'im , and some Ketuvim ) is known as 'Biblical Hebrew proper' or 'Standard Biblical Hebrew'. This is dated to the period from the 8th to the 6th century BCE. In contrast to Archaic Hebrew, Standard Biblical Hebrew
13090-484: Was also attested in later Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic (see Eruvin 53b). In Samaritan Hebrew, /ʔ ħ h ʕ/ have generally all merged, either into /ʔ/ , a glide /w/ or /j/ , or by vanishing completely (often creating a long vowel), except that original /ʕ ħ/ sometimes have reflex /ʕ/ before /a ɒ/ . Geminate consonants are phonemically contrastive in Biblical Hebrew. In the Secunda /w j z/ are never geminate. In
13209-587: Was also influenced by the conjunction ו , in the so-called waw-consecutive construction. Unlike modern Hebrew, the default word order for biblical Hebrew was verb–subject–object , and verbs were inflected for the number, gender, and person of their subject. Pronominal suffixes could be appended to verbs (to indicate object ) or nouns (to indicate possession ), and nouns had special construct states for use in possessive constructions. The earliest written sources refer to Biblical Hebrew as שפת כנען "the language of Canaan". The Hebrew Bible also calls
13328-901: Was destroyed. Later, the Achaemenid Empire made Judah a province, Yehud Medinata , and permitted the Judahite exiles to return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem . According to the Gemara , Hebrew of this period was similar to Imperial Aramaic ; Hanina bar Hama said that God sent the exiled Jews to Babylon because "[the Babylonian] language is akin to the Leshon Hakodesh " in the Talmud ( Pesahim 87b ). Aramaic became
13447-591: Was in continuous use until the early 6th century BCE, the end of the First Temple period. In the Second Temple Period the Paleo-Hebrew script gradually fell into disuse, and was completely abandoned among the Jews after the failed Bar Kochba revolt . The Samaritans retained the ancient Hebrew alphabet, which evolved into the modern Samaritan alphabet . By the end of the First Temple period
13566-519: Was not used in Phoenician inscriptions; however, there is no direct evidence for biblical texts being written without word division, as suggested by Nahmanides in his introduction to the Torah. Word division using spaces was commonly used from the beginning of the 7th century BCE for documents in the Aramaic script. In addition to marking vowels, the Tiberian system also uses cantillation marks, which serve to mark word stress, semantic structure, and
13685-423: Was originally written in Biblical Hebrew and was also known as the "Proverbs of ben Sira" ( משלי בן סירא , Mišlē ben Sirā ) or the "Wisdom of ben Sira" ( חכמת בן סירא , Ḥokhmat ben Sirā ). The book was not accepted into the Hebrew Bible and the original Hebrew text was not preserved by the Masoretes . However, in 1896, several scroll fragments of the original Hebrew texts of the Book of Sirach, copied in
13804-481: Was preserved mainly in piyyutim , which contain biblical quotations. Biblical Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language from the Canaanite subgroup . As Biblical Hebrew evolved from the Proto-Semitic language it underwent a number of consonantal mergers parallel with those in other Canaanite languages. There is no evidence that these mergers occurred after the adaptation of the Hebrew alphabet. As
13923-615: Was retained by the Samaritans , who use the descendent Samaritan script to this day. However, the Imperial Aramaic alphabet gradually displaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet after the Babylonian captivity , and it became the source for the current Hebrew alphabet . These scripts lack letters to represent all of the sounds of Biblical Hebrew, although these sounds are reflected in Greek and Latin transcriptions/translations of
14042-465: Was the grandson of the author, and that he came to Egypt (most likely Alexandria ) in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of " Euergetes ". This epithet was borne by only two of the Ptolemaic kings . Of these, Ptolemy III Euergetes reigned only twenty-five years (247–222 BCE), and thus Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II must be intended. Since this king dated his reign from the date of his first ascension to
14161-473: Was used in Koine Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts. The Hebrew language is attested in inscriptions from about the 10th century BCE, when it was almost identical to Phoenician and other Canaanite languages, and spoken Hebrew persisted through and beyond the Second Temple period , which ended in the siege of Jerusalem (70 CE) . It eventually developed into Mishnaic Hebrew, which was spoken until
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