King James Version · Under the Greeks
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24
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1 shall herself, and shall in the midst of her people. 2In of shall she open her , and triumph before his . 3I came out of the of , and covered the earth as a cloud. 4I dwelt in , and my is in a cloudy pillar. 5I alone compassed the circuit of , and walked in the bottom of the deep. 6In the waves of the sea and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I got a possession. 7With all these I sought rest: and in whose shall I ? 8So the Creator of all things gave me a , and he that made me caused my to rest, and said, Let thy dwelling be in , and thine in Israel. 9He created me before the world, and I shall never fail. 10In the I before him; and so was I established in . 11Likewise in the beloved city he gave me rest, and in was my . 12And I took root in an honourable people, even in the of ’s . 13I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon. 14I was exalted like a palm tree in En-gaddi, and as a rose plant in , as a fair olive tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plane tree by the water. 15I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax, and as the fume of in the . 16As the turpentine tree I stretched out my , and my are the of and . 17As brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruit of and riches. 18I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and : I therefore, being , am given to all my children which are named of him. 19Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits. 20For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine than the honeycomb. 21They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty. 22He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they that work by me shall not do amiss. 23All these things are the book of of , even which commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of . 24Faint not to be strong in ; that he may confirm you, cleave unto him: for Almighty is alone, and beside him there is no other . 25He filleth all things with his , as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits. 26He maketh the understanding to abound like , and as Jordan in the time of the harvest. 27He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as , and as Geon in the time of vintage. 28The first man knew her not perfectly: no more shall the last find her out. 29For her are more than the sea, and her counsels profounder than the great deep. 30I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden. 31I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and, lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea. 32I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth her afar off. 33I will yet pour out doctrine as , and leave it to all ages for ever. 34Behold that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under the Greeks, 332 BC to 63 BC ›
Alexander's conquest and the kingdoms of his successors. Greek language and custom press in everywhere, and the crisis under Antiochus IV provokes the Maccabean revolt.
- The successors
- Alexander dies at thirty-two and his generals carve up the empire. Judea sits on the border between the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria, and is fought over by both for a century and a half, which is the ordinary condition of the corridor.
- Hellenism
- Not just conquest but a culture: the gymnasium, the theatre, Greek names, Greek dress, Greek as the language of anyone with ambitions. Some Jews embraced it, some resisted it, and the argument between them is the real subject of the Maccabean books. In Alexandria the Hebrew scriptures are translated into Greek, producing the Septuagint, which is the Bible most New Testament writers quote.
- The crisis
- Antiochus IV bans the practice of Judaism, plunders the temple, and sets up a pagan altar in it in 167 BC. The revolt under the Maccabees wins, the temple is rededicated in 164 BC, which is the origin of Hanukkah, and Judea has about eighty years of independence under the Hasmoneans before Rome arrives.
- Further afield
- Rome fights Carthage three times and ends up master of the Mediterranean. Euclid writes the Elements and Archimedes does his work at Syracuse. In China the Qin unify the country in 221 BC and the Han follow, opening what becomes the Silk Road.
All of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)