page_title: Sirach
section_title: Authorship and translation
hierarchical_section_title: Sirach / Authorship and translation
caption_attribution_description: Geheimes Ehrenbuch der Fugger, hergestellt in der Werkstatt Jörg Breu d. J., 1545–1549 Erste Seite mit Darstellung des Hohepriesters Jesus Sirach
context_page_description: The Book of Sirach, also called the Wisdom of Sirach or simply Sirach, and also known as the Book of Ecclesiasticus or Ben Sira, is a Jewish work originally in Hebrew of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 BCE, written by the Jewish scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his father Joshua son of Sirach, sometimes called Jesus son of Sirach or Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira.
  In Egypt, it was translated into Greek by the author's unnamed grandson, who added a prologue. This prologue is generally considered the earliest witness to a canon of the books of the prophets, and thus the date of the text is the subject of intense scrutiny. The book itself is the largest wisdom book from antiquity to have survived.
context_section_description: Joshua ben Sirach, or, according to the Greek text "Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem", was a Jewish scribe who had been living in Jerusalem, and may have authored the work in Alexandria, Egypt ca. 180–175 BCE, where he is thought to have established a school. Ben Sirach is unique among all Old Testament and Apocryphal writers in that he signed his work.
  The Prologue, attributed to Ben Sira's grandson and dated to 132 BCE, is generally considered the earliest witness to a canon of the books of the prophets. Thus the date of the text, has been the subject of intense scrutiny by biblical scholars.
  Joshua ben Sirach's grandson was in Egypt, translating and editing after the usurping Hasmonean line had definitively ousted Simon's heirs in long struggles and was finally in control of the High Priesthood in Jerusalem. Comparing the Hebrew and Greek versions shows that he altered the prayer for Simon and broadened its application ("may He entrust to us his mercy"), in order to avoid closing a work praising God's covenanted faithfulness on an unanswered prayer.
  The Greek translator states in his preface that he was the grandson of the author, and that he came to Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of "Euergetes". This epithet was borne by only two of the Ptolemies.  Of these, Ptolemy III Euergetes reigned only twenty-five years (247–222 BCE) and thus Ptolemy VIII Euergetes must be intended; he ascended the throne in the year 170 BCE, together with his brother Ptolemy VI Philometor, but he soon became sole ruler of Cyrene, and from 146 to 117 BCE held sway over all Egypt. He dated his reign from the year in which he received the crown (i.e., from 170 BCE). The translator must therefore have gone to Egypt in 132 BCE.
  The translation into Greek is believed to have been done after 117 BCE.
caption: Illustration of the high priest Jesus Sirach in the Secret Book of Honour of the Fugger by Jörg Breu the Younger, 1545–1549
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