King James Version · Under the Greeks
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 36
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1Have mercy upon us, O of all, and behold us: 2And send thy fear upon all the nations that seek not after thee. 3Lift up thy hand against the strange nations, and let them see thy . 4As thou wast in us before them: so be thou magnified among them before us. 5And let them know thee, as we have known thee, that there is no but only thou, O . 6Shew new signs, and make other strange wonders: thy hand and thy right arm, that they may set forth thy wondrous works. 7Raise up , and pour out : take away the adversary, and destroy . 8Sake the time short, remember , and let them declare thy wonderful works. 9Let him that escapeth be consumed by the rage of the ; and let them that oppress the people. 10Smite in sunder the heads of the of the heathen, that say, There is none other but we. 11Gather all the tribes of together, and thou them, as . 12O , have mercy upon the people that is called by thy name, and upon Israel, whom thou hast named thy . 13O be merciful unto , thy city, the place of thy rest. 14Fill with thine unspeakable oracles, and thy people with thy : 15Give unto those that thou hast , and raise up that have been in thy name. 16Reward them that wait for thee, and let thy be found . 17O , hear the of thy servants, according to the of over thy people, that all they which upon the earth may know that thou art , the . 18The belly devoureth all meats, yet is one meat better than another. 19As the palate tasteth divers kinds of venison: so doth an of understanding false speeches. 20A froward causeth heaviness: but a man of experience will him. 21A woman will receive every man, yet is one daughter better than another. 22The beauty of a woman cheereth the countenance, and a man loveth nothing better. 23If there be kindness, meekness, and comfort, in her , then is not her husband like other men. 24He that getteth a wife beginneth a possession, a help like unto himself, and a pillar of rest. 25Where no hedge is, there the possession is spoiled: and he that hath no wife will wander up and down . 26Who will a thief well appointed, that skippeth from city to city? so who will a man that hath no house, and lodgeth wheresoever the night taketh him?
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)