King James Version · Under the Greeks
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 43
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1The pride of the height, the clear firmament, the beauty of , with his shew; 2The sun when it appeareth, declaring at his rising a marvellous instrument, the work of : 3At noon it parcheth the country, and who can the burning heat thereof? 4A man blowing a furnace is in works of heat, but the sun burneth the mountains three times more; breathing out vapours, and sending forth bright beams, it dimmeth the eyes. 5Great is that made it; and at his runneth hastily. 6He made the moon also to in her season for a declaration of times, and a sign of the world. 7From the moon is the sign of feasts, a that decreaseth in her perfection. 8The month is called after her name, increasing wonderfully in her changing, being an instrument of the armies above, shining in the firmament of ; 9The beauty of , the of the stars, an ornament giving in the highest places of . 10At the of the One they will stand in their order, and never faint in their watches. 11Look upon the rainbow, and him that made it; very beautiful it is in the brightness thereof. 12It compasseth the about with a circle, and the hands of have bended it. 13By his he maketh the snow to fall aplace, and sendeth swiftly the lightnings of his . 14Through this the are opened: and clouds fly forth as fowls. 15By his great he maketh the clouds firm, and the hailstones are broken small. 16At his sight the mountains are shaken, and at his will the south wind bloweth. 17The noise of the thunder maketh the earth to tremble: so doth the northern storm and the whirlwind: as birds flying he scattereth the snow, and the falling down thereof is as the lighting of : 18The eye marvelleth at the beauty of the whiteness thereof, and is astonished at the raining of it. 19The hoarfrost also as salt he poureth on the earth, and being congealed, it lieth on the top of sharp stakes. 20When the cold north wind bloweth, and the water is congealed into ice, it abideth upon every gathering together of water, and clotheth the water as with a breastplate. 21It devoureth the mountains, and burneth , and consumeth the grass as . 22A present remedy of all is a mist coming speedily, a coming after heat refresheth. 23By his he appeaseth the deep, and planteth islands therein. 24They that sail on the sea tell of the danger thereof; and when we hear it with our ears, we marvel thereat. 25For therein be strange and wondrous works, variety of all kinds of and whales created. 26By him the end of them hath prosperous success, and by his word all things consist. 27We may speak much, and yet come short: wherefore in sum, he is all. 28How shall we be able to magnify him? for he is great above all his works. 29 is terrible and very great, and marvellous is his . 30When ye , exalt him as much as ye can; for even yet will he far exceed: and when ye exalt him, put forth all your strength, and be not weary; for ye can never go far enough. 31Who hath seen him, that he might tell us? and who can magnify him as he is? 32There are yet hid greater things than these be, for we have seen but of his works. 33For hath made all things; and to the godly hath he given .
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)