What Scripture says
Sirach is a wisdom book much like Proverbs. The New Testament never quotes it as Scripture, though James and Sirach share some themes, such as controlling the tongue and warnings to the rich (compare James 3 with Sirach 28). Jesus’ “Law… Prophets and… Psalms” (Luke 24:44, ESV) matches the three-part structure Sirach’s own prologue describes.
What the evidence says
History
The author and the book
Sirach, also called Ecclesiasticus (“the church book”, because it was so widely read in churches), is the only book of the Apocrypha whose author we know by name: Jesus ben Sira, a teacher in Jerusalem, who wrote around 190–180 BC. His grandson translated it into Greek in Egypt around 132 BC and added a prologue.
It is a collection of practical and religious teaching on friendship, speech, work, money, family, health, prayer and the fear of the Lord. It ends with a famous hymn praising Israel’s heroes from Enoch to the high priest Simon (Sirach 44–50), beginning: “Let us now praise famous men.”
The prologue
The grandson’s prologue is revealing. Three times it refers to an existing collection of books:
- “the Law and the Prophets and the others that followed them”,
- “the Law and the Prophets and the other books of our ancestors”,
- “the Law itself, the Prophecies, and the rest of the books”.
He explains that his grandfather studied these books, and then wrote his own work. He also apologizes for any imperfections in his translation. In other words, Sirach places itself after an existing collection of authoritative books, not among them. This is one of the earliest descriptions of the three-part Hebrew Bible, from about 130 BC.
Manuscripts
For centuries Sirach was known only in Greek and other translations. In 1896, Hebrew manuscripts were discovered in the Cairo Geniza, a storeroom of old texts in a Cairo synagogue. More Hebrew fragments were later found at Masada (before AD 73) and among the Dead Sea Scrolls. About two-thirds of the Hebrew text has now been recovered.
Teaching
Much of Sirach is wise and godly: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (echoing Proverbs). Some of its sayings reflect the attitudes of its time, such as harsh statements about women and daughters (for example Sirach 25:24 and 42:14), which even sympathetic readers find difficult.
Reception
| Community | View of Sirach |
|---|---|
| Rabbinic Judaism | Quoted with respect, but not Scripture |
| Early church | Widely read and quoted |
| Jerome | Useful reading, not canon |
| Catholic and Orthodox | Scripture |
| Protestant | Valuable reading |
Where they meet
Sirach is practical, godly wisdom, and its praise of Israel’s heroes is still widely read. Catholics and Orthodox read it as Scripture. Protestants value it but note that the book itself seems to distinguish itself from the existing Scriptures, and that Jewish teachers who knew and respected it never counted it among them.
What’s still open
Whether the prologue’s three-part description shows a closed Hebrew canon already in the 2nd century BC, or simply a recognized core with open edges. Scholars differ (see 3.1 and 3.8).
Bottom line
Sirach is a book of proverbs by Jesus ben Sira (c. 180 BC). Its own prologue places it after “the Law, the Prophets and the other books”, setting itself apart from them. It is rated Debated because Catholic and Orthodox traditions accept it as Scripture.