King James Version · Under the Greeks
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 49
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1The remembrance of is like the composition of the perfume that is made by the art of the apothecary: it is sweet as honey in all mouths, and as musick at a banquet of . 2He behaved himself uprightly in the conversion of the people, and took away the of . 3He directed unto , and in the time of the ungodly he established the of . 4All, except and Ezekias and , were defective: for they forsook of , even the kings of failed. 5Therefore he gave their unto others, and their to a strange nation. 6They burnt the chosen city of , and made the streets desolate, according to the of . 7For they entreated him evil, who nevertheless was a , in his mother’s , that he might root out, and afflict, and destroy; and that he might build up also, and plant. 8It was who saw the , which was shewed him upon the chariot of the cherubims. 9For he made mention of the under the figure of the , and directed them that went right. 10And of the twelve let the memorial be , and let their bones flourish again out of their place: for they comforted , and them by assured . 11How shall we magnify ? even he was as a signet on : 12So was the son of : who in their time builded the house, and set up an temple to , which was prepared for . 13And among the elect was Neemias, whose renown is great, who up for us the walls that were fallen, and set up the and the bars, and up our ruins again. 14But upon the earth was no man created like ; for he was taken from the earth. 15Neither was there a young man born like Joseph, a governor of his brethren, a stay of the people, whose bones were regarded of . 16Sem and were in great among men, and so was above every living thing in creation.
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)