King James Version · Under the Greeks
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 42
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1Of these things be not thou , and accept no person to thereby: 2Of of , and his ; and of to the ungodly; 3Of reckoning with thy partners and travellers; or of the gift of the heritage of friends; 4Of exactness of balance and weights; or of getting much or little; 5And of merchants’ indifferent selling; of much of children; and to make the side of an evil servant to bleed. 6Sure keeping is good, where an evil wife is; and shut up, where many hands are. 7 all things in number and weight; and put all in writing that thou givest out, or receivest in. 8Be not to inform the unwise and foolish, and the extreme aged that contendeth with those that are young: thus shalt thou be truly learned, and approved of all men living. 9 waketh for the daughter, when no man knoweth; and the care for her taketh away sleep: when she is young, lest she pass away the flower of her age; and being married, lest she should be hated: 10In her virginity, lest she should be defiled and gotten with child in her ’s house; and having an husband, lest she should misbehave herself; and when she is married, lest she should be . 11Keep a sure watch over a shameless daughter, lest she make thee a laughingstock to thine , and in the city, and a among the people, and make thee before . 12Behold not every body’s beauty, and sit not in the midst of women. 13For from garments cometh a moth, and from women wickedness. 14Better is the churlishness of a man than a courteous woman, a woman, I say, which bringeth and . 15I will now remember the works of , and declare the things that I have seen: In the words of are his works. 16The sun that giveth looketh upon all things, and the work thereof is full of . 17 hath not given to to declare all his marvellous works, which firmly settled, that whatsoever is might be established for his . 18He seeketh out the deep, and , and considereth their crafty devices: for knoweth all that may be known, and he beholdeth the signs of the world. 19He declareth the things that are past, and for to come, and revealeth the steps of hidden things. 20No thought escapeth him, neither any word is hidden from him. 21He hath garnished the excellent works of his , and he is from to : unto him may nothing be added, neither can he be diminished, and he hath no need of any counsellor. 22Oh how desirable are all his works! and that a man may see even to a spark. 23All these things live and for ever for all uses, and they are all obedient. 24All things are double one against another: and he hath made nothing imperfect. 25One thing establisheth the good or another: and who shall be filled with beholding his ?
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)