The Texts and Versions of the Book of Ben Sira

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2 The Texts and Versions of the Book of Ben Sira

3 Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism Editors Benjamin G. Wright, III Department of Religion Studies, Lehigh University Associate Editors Florentino Garcia Martinez Qumran Institute, University of Groningen Hindy Najman Department and Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto Advisory Board G. BOHAK - J.J. COLLINS - J. DUHAIME - P.W. VAN DER HORST - A.K. PETERSEN - M. POPOVIC - J.T.A.G.M. VAN RUTTEN - J. SIEVERS - G. STEMBERGER - E.J.C. TIGCHELAAR - J. MAGLIANO-TROMP VOLUME 150 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/jsjs

4 The Texts and Versions of the Book of Ben Sira Transmission and Interpretation Edited by Jean-Sébastien Rey Jan Joosten BRILL LEIDEN. BOSTON 2011

5 This book is printed on acid-free paper. ISSN ISBN Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. FSC MIX Paper from responsible sources FSC* C PRINTED BY A-D DRUK BV - ZEIST, THE NETHERLANDS

6 CONTENTS Preface vii HEBREW TEXTS OF BEN SIRA An Alternative Hebrew Form of Ben Sira: the Anthological Manuscript C 3 Jeremy Corley Reconstructions and Retroversions: Chances and Challenges to the Hebrew Ben Sira Text 23 Pancratius C. Beentjes Wordplay in the Hebrew to Ben Sira 37 Eric D. Reymond Animal Imagery in the Hebrew Text of Ben Sirach 55 Nuria Calduch-Benages GREEK VERSIONS OF BEN SIRA Translation Greek in Sirach in Light of the Grandsons Prologue 75 Benjamin G. Wright III The Literary Attainment of the Translator of Greek Sirach 95 /. K. Aitken Le métier de scribe un métier différent: quelques réflexions à partir de la version grecque de Siracide Françoise Vinel SYRIAC VERSIONS OF BEN SIRA Ben Sira in the Syriac Tradition 143 Wido van Peursen Archaic Elements in the Syriac Version of Ben Sira 167 Jan Joosten Christian Features in the Peshitta Text of Ben Sira: the Question of Dependency on the Syriac New Testament 177 Robert J. Owens

7 Vi CONTENTS LATIN VERSIONS OF BEN SIRA The Old Latin Version of Sirach: Editio Critica and Textual Problems 199 Anthony J. Forte La version latine de Ben Sira: état de la question, essai de classement thématique des «additions» 215 Thierry Legrand HERMENEUTICAL AND THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES The Additions to Ben Sira and the Books Multiform Textual Witness 237 Jason Gile L'espérance post-mortem dans les différentes versions du Siracide 257 Jean-Sébastien Key La prière de Ben Sira dans les manuscrits hébreux et dans les versions anciennes 281 Maria Carmela Palmisano La sagesse dans les béatitudes de Ben Sira: étude du texte de Si 51,13-30 et de Si 14,20-15, Emile Puech Index of Ancient Sources 331 Index of Modem Authors 348

8 PREFACE The textual history of the book of Ben Sira witnesses, firstly, to the great popularity of the work in a wide variety of settings and, secondly, to the fact that this writing was not considered authoritative to the same degree as most books that ended up in the Hebrew canon. The Hebrew text of the book is preserved only fragmentarily, but the attested bits represent wildly different versions. The Greek translation is known in two or three recensions, all of which differ markedly from all Hebrew versions (although there are similarities and connections as well). The Latin version must have been made from the Greek but diverges from it considerably. The Syriac version appears to go back to a lost Hebrew source text, perhaps complemented by a Greek version whose contours can no longer be identified. Usually, these textual witnesses are analyzed with a view to reconstructing early stages of the Hebrew text. In this perspective, the disunity of witnesses can only be apprehended as chaos. There is however a different way to look at the textual multiplicity of Ben Sira. If text forms differ strongly, this may be due, at least in part, to the great importance scribes and communities attached to the work. Instead of simply copying and transmitting it, each generation of readers appears to have appropriated the text anew, updating it and interpreting it in light of their own experience. In this light, the different textual traditions can be searched for tell-tale indications showing what moved certain scribes, or circles of readers, to change the text in a certain way. The versions may be read as witnesses to their own milieu, rather than the original text of Ben Sira. It is in the latter perspective that Jean-Sébastien Rey conceived the idea encouraged and supported by Jan Joosten to organize a symposium on the different versions of Ben Sira. The symposium took place in Metz on October 15-17,2009 and brought together some of the foremost experts in the field of textual studies on Ben Sira. The present volume contains most of the papers read at the symposium.

9 viii PREFACE Four papers are concerned with the Hebrew texts of Ben Sira: Jeremy Corley presents a new examination of manuscript C from the Geniza, its anthological and thematic organization, as well as its original readings; Pancratius C. Beentjes argues for an edition which should only contain the actual recovered texts, without reconstructions of illegible consonants or gaps in the manuscripts; Eric D. Reymond shows that the textual transmission of the book has resulted in a text that incorporates, in some instances, more word play than the original; Nuria Calduch-Benages analyzes animal imagery in some selected passages of Ben Sira. The Greek versions of the text are discussed next: Benjamin G. Wright looks at the relationship between what the prologue says about the following translation and how that relates to the translation itself; James K. Aitken examines some key examples that illustrate the translator s method, placing his Greek within the biblical tradition and within the koine Greek of the Hellenistic age; Françoise Vinel examines the vocabulary of skills and professions in Sir 38. The following three papers deal with the Syriac tradition: Wido van Peursen gives a survey of the witnesses of the text (Peshitta manuscripts, Syriac patristic literature, exegetical literature, poetic reworking of the book, Syro-Hexapla), and uses Sir 1:1-10 as a sample text to illustrate the relationship between the various sources; Jan Joosten points to linguistic features in the Syriac version of Ben Sira that seem to reflect a western Aramaic dialect, arguing that these elements may indicate that the translation was made in two stages; Robert J. Owens discusses important passages of the Syriac text of Ben Sira where a serious case can be made for influence from the New Testament, concluding that Syriac Ben Sira is a Christian product. The Latin version of the book is not neglected: Anthony J. Forte discusses the process of editing the Vetus Latina of Sirach 25-52; Thierry Legrand presents a thematic classification of the additions found in the Latin version, highlighting some characteristic themes such as the importance of the fear of God and the insistence on truth and justice. Finally, a few papers take a more transversal approach: Jason Gile argues that the multiformity of the text of Ben Sira cannot be reduced to two distinct text-forms underlying the extant textual witnesses, as has sometimes been attempted; Jean-Sébastien Rey proposes to revise the study of Konleth Kearns by comparing the different texts dealing with post-mortem hope in Hebrew and Greek; Maria Carmela Palmisano

10 PREFACE ix studies some euchologic texts in the book of Ben Sira (Sir 36:1-17 and Sir 51:1-12) and observes characteristic features in each textual tradition; Otto Mulder focuses on the semantic meaning of ~DT in the last part of Ben Siras book, specifically in the exordium in 44:1-15; Finally, Emile Puech deals first with the acrostic poem from Sir 51:13-30 and the value of the Hebrew text of 11Q5 XXI13-XXII1. Thanks are due to our institutions, the research group in Protestant Theology of Strasbourg University (EA 4378) and the research center "Écritures" (EA 3943) of the University Paul Verlaine in Metz, for supporting the organization of the symposium. We thank Brill and Hindy Najman for accepting the proceedings in the series Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism. Most of all, we thank the participants in the symposium for their interesting papers. Jan Joosten Jean-Sébastien Rey

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12 HEBREW TEXTS OF BEN SIRA

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14 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA: THE ANTHOLOGICAL MANUSCRIPT C Jeremy Corley Ushaw College, Durham About two-thirds of the Hebrew text of Ben Sira is now available in at least one of the nine ancient or medieval Hebrew manuscripts. 1 The earliest manuscript, discovered at Masada in 1964, perhaps dates from about a century after the works composition, yet even it shows probable signs of scribal editing, since it never uses the Tetragrammaton. 2 A very fragmentary section of Sirach 6 appears in a manuscript from Qumran Cave 2, while half of Ben Siras final acrostic poem appears in the Qumran Cave 11 Psalms Scroll. 3 From the Cairo Genizah six Ben Sira MSS have hitherto been discovered, perhaps dating between the ninth and the twelfth centuries of our era. Five of these six surviving Genizah Hebrew manuscripts are essentially continuous transcriptions of the text. In contrast, MS C is distinctive by presenting only extracts from the book, often in a changed sequence. Hence scholars have called this text "anthologicat; in other words, it is an excerpted manuscript, not entirely unlike the ancient excerpted biblical manuscripts discovered at Qumran. 1 For listings of these MSS see P. C. Beentjes, The Book of Ben Sira in Hebrew (VTSup 68; Leiden: Brill, 1997), am grateful to Dr. Ben Outhwaite for access to the Cambridge Genizah manuscripts and to Dr. James Aitken for enabling me to see an electronic version of the newly discovered leaf and for discussions on the origin of MS C. I am also grateful to Vincent Skemp for help in locating articles, Renate Egger- Wenzel for copying an article for me, and John Moriarty for computer assistance. In addition, my thanks are due to Jean-Sébastien Rey for letting me see a pre-publication copy of his article on the recently discovered leaf of MS C, as well as for organizing the 2009 conference in Metz. 2 P. W. Skehan, "The Divine Name at Qumran, in the Masada Scroll, and in the Septuagint," BIOSCS 13 (1980): 14-44, here Note that the acrostic poem has been removed from its context in Ben Sira and placed in a liturgical setting among psalms and hymns. On 51:13-30 see the article by Emile Puech in the present volume.

15 4 JEREMY CORLEY This study builds on the earlier articles on MS C by Pancratius Beentjes, Claudia Camp, and Marco Zappella. 4 Valuable discussions of the text of MS C are also found in the monographs of Antonino Minissale and Wido van Peursen. 5 In 2008 Shulamit Elizur published a new leaf of the manuscript, and useful articles on this latest material have appeared by Jean-Sébastien Rey and Renate Egger-Wenzel. 6 Until today, four bifolia of MS C have been discovered. It is certain that the present opening of manuscript C is not original, and it is very likely that the beginning of the manuscript originally had more on the care of parents from the early part of chapter 37 There is a gap in the middle between the two major blocks of preserved text, and the missing text may have been quite extensive, since the gap covers from chapter 8 to chapter 18. The end of our present manuscript (in my view, containing the first word of 27:17) is evidently not the conclusion of the original manuscript. 8 Hence Rey suggests that perhaps one bifolium has been lost from the exterior and one or two bifolia have been lost from the middle. 9 The first half of the preserved text has principally extracts from chapters 3-7, while the second half has mainly briefer extracts from chapters It is noteworthy that the compiler of MS 4 P. C. Beentjes, "Hermeneutics in the Book of Ben Sira. Some Observations on the Hebrew Ms. C," in his essay collection, "Happy the One who Meditates on Wisdom" (SIR. 14,20): Collected Essays on the Book of Ben Sira (CBET 43; Leuven: Peeters, 2006), ; idem, "Some Misplaced Words in the Hebrew Manuscript C. of Ben Sira," in "Happy the One who Meditates on Wisdom? ; C. V. Camp, "Honor, Shame, and the Hermeneutics of Ben Siras MS C," in Wisdom, You Are My Sister (ed. M. L. Barré; FS R. E. Murphy; CBQMS 29; Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1997), ; M. Zappella, "Criteri antologici e questioni testuali del manoscritto ebraico C di Siracide," RivB 38 (1990): A. Minissale, La versione greca del Siracide (AnBib 133; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1995); W. T. van Peursen, The Verbal System in the Hebrew Text of Ben Sira (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 41; Leiden: Brill, 2004). 6 S. Elizur, "A New Hebrew Fragment of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus)," Tarbiz 76/1 (2008): 17-28; Eadem, "Two New Leaves of the Hebrew Version of Ben Sira," DSD 17 (2010): 13-29; J.-S. Rey, "Un nouveau bifeuillet du manuscrit C de la Genizah du Caire," in Florilegium Lovaniense (ed. H. Ausloos et al.; FS F. Garcia Martinez; BETL 224; Louvain: Peeters, 2008), ; R. Egger-Wenzel, "Ein neues Sira-Fragment des MS C," BN138 (2008): Rey, "Un nouveau bifeuillet," 388. It is unclear whether it also had extracts from the first two chapters of Ben Sira, which are more heavily theological. 8 I have argued that the final Hebrew word HDJ ("test") is actually the first word of Sir 27:17a, since it matches the Syriac text, though the Greek differs; see J. Corley, Ben Siras Teaching on Friendship (BJS 316; Providence, RI: Brown University, 2002), n Rey, "Un nouveau bifeuillet," 388.

16 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA 5 C has inserted 13 bicola (or distichs) from 36:24-37:26 within extracts from 5:13-27:17. Various dates have been suggested for MS C. Moses Gaster (the scholar who first published the leaf of MS C containing extracts from Sirach 18-20) dated the manuscript to the late 10 th or early 11 th century. 10 Similarly, Patrick Skehan and Alexander Di Leila assert that MS C is "older than MSS A and B," and hence older than about 1090 CE (when MS A was copied). 11 While Moshe Segal claims that generally MS C "represents an older text" than MS A, the actual manuscript may have been copied somewhat later. 12 In fact, the auction catalogue advertising the recently discovered leaf of MS C suggested a date of "11th- 12th century." 13 A. ANTHOLOGICAL HEBREW PSALMS AND TORAH MANUSCRIPTS The anthological character of MS C makes it different from all the other medieval Genizah Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira. In fact, this manuscript diverges from those other Ben Sira MSS in two ways: excerpting and resequencing. First, it selects (or excerpts) text by omitting sections from the regular sequence of verses. And second, it rearranges (or resequences) some sections of the text; the resequenced sections are indicated in my translation by italics. Yet this excerpted manuscript of Ben Sira is not the only ancient Hebrew anthological text, since even within the Hebrew Bible, comparable cases can be found among several psalms. Indeed, both excerpting and resequencing appear in earlier biblical manuscripts. The most striking example of an excerpted and resequenced psalm (made up of elements from three others) is the hymn sung by Asaph and his kindred when David first brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chr 16:8-36). 14 Table 1 shows that 1 Chr 16:8-36 is a 10 M. Gaster, "A New Fragment of Ben Sira," JQR 12 ( ): , here 691; cf. Zappella, "Criteri antologici," P. W. Skehan and A. A. Di Leila, The Wisdom of Ben Sira (AB 39; New York: Doubleday, 1987), M. H. Segal, "The Evolution of the Hebrew Text of Ben Sira," JQR 25 ( ) , here Rey, "Un nouveau bifeuillet," 387, n. 2. James Aitken also suspects that MS C dates from the 12th century (personal communication). 14 A. E. Hill, "Patchwork Poetry or Reasoned Verse? Connective Structure in 1 Chronicles XVI," VT33 (1983): ; P. C. Beentjes, Tradition and Transformation in

17 6 JEREMY CORLEY composite poem made up of a slightly modified form of Ps 105:1-15, Ps 96:1-13, and Ps 106:1, Chr 16:8-36 Psalm Texts 1 Chr 16:8-22 Ps 105: Chr 16:23-33 Ps 96:1-13 (slightly abbreviated) 1 Chr 16:34 Ps 106:1 1 Chr 16:35-36 Ps 106:47-48 Table 1: Psalm Texts Used in 1 Chronicles 16 Within the canonical Psalter, Psalm 108 is an anthology of excerpts (slightly modified) from Psalms 57 and 60, as shown in Table 2. Psalm 108 Earlier Psalms Ps 108:2-6 Ps 57:8-12 Ps 108:7-14 Ps 60:7-14 Table 2: Earlier Psalms Used in Psalm 108 Moreover, Psalm 70 is a slightly reworded form of Ps 40: In addition, among psalms of the canonical Psalter, several (notably parts of Psalms 96,97, and 135) are themselves anthologies of psalm verses that occur elsewhere in the Psalter, though they are not exactly excerpted psalms since new material is also introduced. 15 Similarly, Ps 144:1-10 includes rearranged lines modified from Ps 18, interspersed with material based on parts of Ps 8, 33, 39, and 104. In fact, Dead Sea manuscripts of canonical psalms show many other omissions and rearrangements. Perhaps the most ancient Psalms text, 4QPs a (4Q83), jumps from Ps 31:23-25 to 33:1-12, and also from Ps 38:16-23 to 71: In addition, 4QPs d (4Q86) places Psalm 147 before Psalm 104, while 4QPs k (4Q92) places Psalm 135 before Psalm the Book of Chronicles (SSN 52; Leiden: Brill, 2008), ; G. H. Wilson, "The Qumran Psalms Scroll Reconsidered: Analysis of the Debate," CBQ 47 (1985): , here A few differences exist between 1 Chr 16:8-36 and the related Psalm texts; for instance, 1 Chr 16:13 speaks of the "offspring of Israel" whereas Ps 105:5 mentions the "offspring of Abraham," and 1 Chr 16:27 declares that "strength and joy are in his place" whereas Ps 96:6 asserts that "strength and splendor are in his sanctuary." For the Psalter, I use the Hebrew verse numberings. 15 Thus, most of Ps 135:8-20 consists of material based on Ps 115:4-6, 8-11 and Ps 136:10, While the general presumption is that psalms that appear later in the arrangement of the canonical Psalter were composed later, this is unproven. 16 E. Ulrich et al., DJD 16, Ulrich, DJD 16, 66-71, 124. Beyond the Psalter, a few other anthological texts exist within the Hebrew Bible. For instance, the book of Joel contains close echoes of

18 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA 7 Qumran non-canonical hymn collections also contain anthological compositions that draw material from canonical psalms. Thus, 4Q380 1 i 7-10 is based on some opening verses from Ps 106, while sections preserved in 4Q381 are based on rearranged verses from Ps 9, 18, 69, 76, 86, 89, and One brief example appears in Table 3. Non-Canonical Psalm (4Q ) Lines based on Psalm 89 4Q Ps 89:10-11,12b 4Q Ps 89:14, 7 4Q Ps 89:8,18 Table 3: Lines from Psalm 89 echoed in non-canonical Psalm 4Q381 Fragment 15 The Dead Sea Scrolls have also preserved some ancient anthological Torah MSS. For instance, in a way analogous to phylactery scrolls, 4QDeutf (4Q37) contains portions of Deut 5:1-6:3, 8:5-10; 11:6-21, then Exod 12:43-13:5, followed by Deut 32:7-8. Table 4 charts the excerpting and resequencing evident in 4Q Q37 Biblical Text Columns I-IV Deut 5:1-6:3 Column V Deut 8:5-10 Columns VI-VII Lacuna [? Deut 10:12-11:5] Columns VIII-X Deut 11:6-21; Exod 12:43-13:5 Columns XI-XII Lacuna [? Exod 13:6-16; Peut 32:1-6] + Deut 32:7-8 Table 4: Probable original contents of4q37 In comparable fashion, 4QDeut n (4Q41) contains portions of Deut 8:5-10 and then 5:1-6:1, while 4QExod d (4Q15) jumps from Exod 13:15-16 to Exod 15:1. 20 All in all, we note that analogues to MS C exist among earlier prophetic texts (e.g., Joel 2:2 echoing Zeph 1:15 and Joel 4:16 echoing Amos 1:2). New Testament scholars accepting the hypothesis of the lost Q-source (represented by most non-marcan sayings in Luke) might see some discourse material in Matthew as a thematic anthology of Q material. For instance, Matt 10:26-39 may be regarded as an adapted compilation of Q-material preserved in Luke 12:2-9, and 14: E. M. Schuller, Non-Canonical Psalms from Qumran: A Pseudepigraphic Collection (HSS 28; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986), Table 3 is based on information on p This table is adapted from the chart by J. A. Duncan, "4Q Deut'," in DJD 14, 75-91, here S. W. Crawford, "4Q Deut n," in DJD 14, ; J. E. Sanderson, "4Q Exod d," in DJD 12, Cf. E. Tov, "Excerpted and Abbreviated Biblical Texts from Qumran," RevQ 16/4 (1995): , here See also L. Doering, "Excerpted Texts in Second Temple Judaism: A Survey of the Evidence," in Selecta colligere II (ed. R. M. Piccione and M. Perkans; Hellenica 18; Alessandria: Edizioni dell* Orso, 2005), 1-38,

19 8 JEREMY CORLEY the excerpted (and sometimes resequenced) Psalms and Torah MSS found at Qumran. 21 B. ANALYSIS OF FIVE SAMPLE PASSAGES FROM MANUSCRIPT C By my approximate reckoning (which includes double counting), the preserved leaves of MS C deal with the following major topics: women (26 bicola), wisdom and folly (23 bicola), speech (19 bicola), friendship (14 bicola), and honor and shame (10 bicola). Here we will analyze sample passages dealing with these five themes, so as to illustrate characteristic features of the manuscript. The five passages are here considered in the order in which they appear in MS C: (a) 41:16; 4:21; 20:22-23; 4:22 (on shame); (b) 5:9-13 (on speech); (c) 36:24; 6:5-6; 37:1-2; 6:7-10, (on friendship); (d): 3:27; 6:18-19, 28, 35 (on wisdom); and (e) 26:1-3,13,15-17 (on the good wife). (a) 41:16; 4:21; 20:22-23; 4:22 (on shame): 4hl6hc Not all shame isfittingto observe, and not all being disgraced is to be chosen. 4:21 There is a shame (that is) a burden of iniquity, but there is a shame (that is) grace and glory :22 jh ere j s o n e w n o destroys himself out of shame, and in stupidity of face he will inherit it. 20:23 jh ere i $ o n e w n o j s disgraced and makes promises to his neighbor, and acquires him (as) an enemy for nothing. 4:22 Do not show favoritism for yourselves, but do not be ashamed (so that it becomes) a stumbling-block for you. Here the producer of MS C has brought together bicola from three different chapters in Ben Sira's book. As a result of this thematic resequencing, a new poem has been created on the topic of shame. 23 This section of five bicola cleverly employs the root una ("be ashamed") five times in nouns or verbs. The compiler s skill is also evident in the use here Anthological collections also occur within rabbinic texts; cf. S. C. Reif, "A Midrashic Anthology from the Genizah," in Interpreting the Hebrew Bible (ed. J. A. Emerton and S. C. Reif; FS E. I. J. Rosenthal; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), ; E. Segal, "Anthological Dimensions of the Babylonian Talmud," Prooftexts 17 (1997): In my translation, the round brackets (thus) mark words added for the sake of English style. Verses in italics indicate bicola moved from their "canonical" sequence. 23 Beentjes, "Hermeneutics," 345; Camp, "Honor, Shame, and the Hermeneutics," 159.

20 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA 9 here of five more repeated words, since this section twice uses the nouns UtoJ ("soul, self") and D'M ("face"), as well as twice using the roots KUtt ("lift up"), tb'd (niphal: "be disgraced"), and pn ("be gracious"). In addition, the composer has developed the anaphora with UP ("there is") by inserting 20:22-23 after 4:21. (b) 5:9-13 (on speech): 5:9 Do not be one who scatters in every direction, and do not walk in every track. 5:10 Be firm upon your word, and afterward your words shall happen. 24 5:11 Be ready with hearing what is good, and in length you are indeed to answer correctly. 5:12 If you have (it) with you, answer your neighbor, and if not, place your hand over your mouth. 5:13 Glory and dishonor are in the hand of a chatterer, but the tongue of a human being is his deliverer (MS C). For comparison, here are the same verses from MS A. 5:9 Do not be one who scatters in every direction, or one who turns in the direction of aflowingstream. 5:10 Be firm upon your knowledge, and let your word be one thing. 5:11 Be hasty to give ear, but in length of spirit return a message. 5:12 If you have (it) with you, answer your neighbor, and if not, let your hand be over your mouth. 5:13 Glory and dishonor are in the hand of a chatterer, but the tongue of a human being is his downfall (MS A). Because the compiler of MS C is interested in social dealings, as expressed in speech, he has included the whole of 5:9-13 on the topic, instead of merely selecting extracts. The presence of these verses in MS A and MS C allows a clear comparison in this section. Unlike in other portions of MS C, here there has been no resequencing of bicola. Nevertheless, it is likely that MS A generally preserves a more original text, and that the compiler of MS C has made a few changes in wording. In 5:13, whereas MS A declares negatively of the chatterer, "the tongue of a human being is his downfall" (compare the Greek), MS C seems to have reversed the meaning by saying positively, "the tongue of a human being 24 This translation reads the first word as in*0 ("and afterward"). But possibly there is confusion between the Hebrew letters dalet and resh, and thus the word should be read as inkl ("and one" = MS A), so that the line would say: "and let your words be one thing."

21 10 JEREMY CORLEY is his deliverer." It is unclear if this is a textual corruption or a deliberate change. In 5:10a, MS C seems to have changed "[njn ("your knowledge," MS A) to Tim ("your word"), echoing T^XT ("your words") in 5:10b. Then in 5:11, MS C seems to have adapted the saying to create repetition of l*dj in two senses ("ready, correct"): "Be ready with hearing what is good, and in length you are indeed to answer correctly." Moreover, by comparison with MS A, MS C has omitted the word "spirit" in 5:11, but added the verb "place" in 5:12. However, because MS C sometimes uses a fuller orthography than MS A, it is likely that the last word of 5:12a (TJ^) is n o t ( a s it might seem) "your neighbors," but rather a plene spelling of the singular form "your neighbor" (as in 2 Sam 12:11), thereby agreeing with MS A (which has *]JTl). (c) 36:24; 6:5-6; 37:1-2; 6:7-10, (on friendship): 3624(l9) A palate will taste the delicacies of a gift, and an understanding heart will discern deceptive delicacies. 6:5 A sweet palate will multiply friends, and gracious lips, those who ask peace. 6 6 The men of your peaces let them be many, but the possessor of your secret, one out of a thousand. 37:laEvery friend will say, "I am a friend!' 15 37:2aa j^-g # not at a time reach him? 37:2ap-b Q f fc) a s o r w w 0f death 6:7 6:9 6:10 6:8 6:12 6:13 6:14 a companion like oneself will be turned into a foe. 26 You have acquired a friend with testing acquire him, and do not make haste to trust in him. There is a friend, turned into an enemy, but he will withhold the dispute of your reproach. There is a friend, a table partner, but he will not be found on a day of evil. There is a friend in view of a time, but he will not stand on a day of distress. If it befalls him, he has turned against you, and from your presence he will be hidden. From your enemies be separated, and from your friends be wary. A faithful friend is a strong shield, and as for his finder, he has found wealth. 25 The final word of 37:1a in MS C appears to read "his love" through confusion between waw and yod y but probably "I am a friend" is meant, as in MSS B and D. 26 Without the soph pasuq (in the form of a raised dot in MS C), it might be possible to render: "Is it not at the time (when) the judgment of death reaches him (that) a companion like oneself will be turned into a foe?"; cf. Rey, "Un nouveau bifeuillet," 394.

22 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA 11 6:15 A faithful friend there is no price, and there is no weighing for his goodness. As in the case of the first sample passage, the producer of MS C has again brought together bicola from three different chapters in Ben Siras work. Apart from the first four Hebrew words of 36:24, this section comes from the newly discovered bifolium published by Elizur in It is immediately evident that the compiler of MS C has introduced a long section on friendship (containing most of 6:5-17) by quoting 36:24, which speaks of exercising discernment when making choices. Shortly afterward, MS C has inserted 37:1-2 (on friendship) into the earlier passage concerning friendship. In particular, 37:1-2 resembles 6:9 with the motif of a friend who turns into someone hostile. Thematic resequencing has resulted in the presence of anaphora, since the word "palate" begins 36:24 and 6:5. The compiler retains the later anaphora in the threefold expression, "There is a friend" (6:8-10), though he has moved 6:8 after 6:9-10. In addition, making use of the phrase "a faithful friend" in 6:14-15, he has made more exact anaphora (by comparison with MS A) by omitting the preposition "for" at the beginning of 6:15. However, the third bicolon to speak of "a faithful friend" (6:16) has been omitted, perhaps because of its mention of God; we will see that MS C has a general tendency to avoid verses mentioning the Deity. There is also the minor omission of the word "evil" in 6:12, because the resequencing of 6:8 after 6:9-10 means that the near synonym "distress" can stand as the subject of the verb in 6:12. A possible reversal of meaning exists, since the original text of 6:9b probably says that the unfaithful friend "will expose the dispute of your reproach" (so MS A), whereas MS C seems to make the more positive statement that he "will withhold the dispute of your reproach." In addition, my general claim is that MS C aims to preserve complete bicola of Ben Sira. The compiler had a problem in 37:1-2, since 37:1b seems to have been lost to him, just as 37:1b is absent from the first hand of MS B (though later included in its margin). 28 We may compare 37:1-2 in MS D, which preserves what seems approximately the original form of these two verses: 27 Elizur, "A New Hebrew Fragment," 22-25; Rey, "Un nouveau bifeuillet," ; Egger-Wenzel, "Ein neues Sira-Fragment," Note that the full text of 37:1-2 is added in the margin of MS B; cf. Beentjes, The Book of Ben Sira in Hebrew, 63.

23 12 JEREMY CORLEY 37:1 37:2 Every friend says, "I am a friend," yet there is a friend who is a friend in name (only). Is it not a sorrow reaching to death a companion like oneself, turned into a foe? Whereas these verses in MS D make good sense, the absence of 37:1b causes obscurity. Hence, the compiler of MS C had to stretch out 37:2a across two cola, resulting in a rather unclear saying. 29 As a final point, we may note that some of these verses were evidently significant within medieval Judaism, since there are quotations of 6:6 in the Babylonian Talmud (tractates Sanhédrin and Yebamoi), and the tenth-century rabbi Saadya Gaon also cites 6:7-8,13. (d): 3:27; 6:18-1% 28, 35 (on wisdom): 3:27 A stubborn heart will make heavy like a stone, and a sinner will add sin to sin. 6:i8 My son, from youth receive instruction, and until gray hair you will attain wisdom. 6:i9ab a plowman and like a harvester draw near to it, and wait for the abundance of its produce. 6:19cd Because in its labor you will labor a little, and in the future you will eat its fruit; 6:28 Because later you will find its rest, and it will be turned for you into enjoyment. 6:35 Desire to hear every conversation, and let not a proverb of understanding bypass you. By way of stark contrast with the rest of this section, the compiler of MS C has used a form of 3:27 (a proverb on stubbornness) to introduce extracts from 6:18-37 about being ready to receive wisdom. Note that here we have a reworked form of 3:27, by comparison with the saying in MS A: 3:27 A stubborn heart its pains will be many, and a mad person will add iniquity to iniquity. 30 In MS C the compiler not only echoes the repetitious phraseology at the end of 3:27b but also includes a repetition of the Hebrew root TlD ("heavy, stubborn") in 3:27a, a repetition that may be reflected in the 29 Although the text of 37:1-2 is slightly confused, the manuscript clearly has a raised dot (equivalent to soph pasuq) and a gap between "to him" and "judgment/sorrow", so that MS C has included words from 37:2a as 37:1b. Hence my interpretation here differs somewhat from the analysis of Rey, "Un nouveau bifeuillet," In 3:27b I read "mad person" (^inno) where many editions read "one who writhes" (Winno); cf. Skehan and Di Leila, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 163.

24 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA 13 Greek. The rest of this section omits many bicola from 6:18-37, perhaps because of the compiler s lack of interest in anything too doctrinal, though it is interesting that MS A also omits some verses from this passage (namely, 6:18, 23-24, 26, 34). The omission of bicola here creates a minor case of anaphora, through the juxtaposition of *0 ("because") in 6:19cd and 6:28. (e) 26:1-3,13,15-17 (on the good wife): 26:i A good wife happy is her husband, and the number of his days is double! 26:2 A valiant wife will fatten her husband, and she will gladden the years [of his life] A good wife is a [good] portion, and into the share of one who fears YYY she will be given. 26:i3 A wife's [graciousness] will benefit her husband, and her prudence will fatten [his bones]. 26:15 Grace upon [grace] is a bashful wife, and there is no weighing for a tight-lipped woman. 26:16 The sun [ris]ing in the heights abovebeautiful is a wife in a chosen temple. 26:17 A burning lamp upon a lampstand of the sanctuary is (her) splendor of face upon a well-proportioned height. The passage concerns a matter, not of theological doctrine, but of practical concern: the value of a good wife, as seen from a male viewpoint. The selection of these verses by the compiler of MS C suggests that it is likely to be the work of a man rather than a woman. Here we observe the anthological setting, since this passage immediately follows 25:24 (omitting 25:25-26) and precedes 36: This thematic arrangement omits 26:5-12 on the evil wife and thus brings together extracts from two sections (26:1-4 and 26:13-18) that deal with the good wife. At the opening there is threefold anaphora, since all three bicola begin with a form of the word HU>K ("wife"); indeed, 26:1 and 26:3 both begin with the phrase mio ("a good wife"). There is also anaphora between 26:13 and 26:15, both of which begin with the Hebrew word jn ("grace," reconstructed in 26:13). While 26:3 is one of only five bicola that make mention of God in MS C, it is noteworthy that the following section passes directly from 26:13 to 26:15, omitting 26:14 (which 31 In my translation, square brackets [thus] indicate words restored where there are lacunae in the text. 32 The omission of25:25-26 in MS C results in an interesting juxtaposition; whereas 25:24 speaks of woman as the cause of death for men, 26:1 describes the good wife as doubling the numbers of days of her husband's life.

25 14 JEREMY CORLEY also refers to the Deity). Finally, we note that 26:1 and 26:3 were also significant in medieval Judaism, since they are attested in rabbinic tradition (b. Sank 100b; b. Yeb. 63b). 33 The exact wording of the rabbinic form of the two sayings is slightly different, though in fact only four of the fifteen Hebrew words diverge. After giving the Hebrew text in both traditions, I add a translation of the talmudic form of the sayings. 26:1, 3 (MS C) D >1? D w lûdqi ntyn nw* mio nuw inin KT p^nm mro run nmo nvx 26:1, 3 (Talmud) D*6 D vry naoq ntyn nw* n*r nvx 26:1 26:3 A beautiful wife happy is her husband; the number of his days is double! A good wife is a good gift; into the bosom of one who fears God she will be given. C. MAJOR THEMES OF THE MATERIAL INCLUDED IN MANUSCRIPT C The reason for making this anthological text of Ben Sira is not entirely clear. Some scholars have proposed an educational function, not only because of the content, but also because the manuscript has large Hebrew letters written on small leaves of paper. 34 Emanuel Tov s observation regarding Greco-Roman anthologies has an interesting analogy in MS C: "Most classical excerpted texts in poetry and prose were made for educational purposes, illustrating a certain topic or idea (virtues, richness, women, etc.)." 35 Indeed, among other topics MS C deals with virtues such as wisdom (e.g., 37:19,22,24,26) and relations with women (e.g., 26:1-3,13,15-17), as well as the generous use of riches (briefly 33 J. R. Labendz, "The Book of Ben Sira in Rabbinic Literature," Association for Jewish Studies Review 30 (2006): , here ; B. G. Wright, "B. Sanhédrin 100b and Rabbinic Knowledge of Ben Sira," in Treasures of Wisdom: Studies in Ben Sira and the Book of Wisdom (ed. N. Calduch-Benages and J. Vermeylen; BETL 143; Leuven: Peeters, 1999), 41-50, here I. Levi, ^Ecclésiastique ou la Sagesse de Jésus, fib de Sira (2 vols.; Paris: Leroux, 1898, 1901), 2.xviii; Beentjes, "Hermeneutics," 345. The purpose was for memorizing according to Zappella, "Criteri antologici," Tov, "Excerpted and Abbreviated Biblical Texts," 598, where he also suggests that most Qumran excerpted texts were made for liturgical purposes.

26 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA 15 in 4:31 ). Another possible purpose of this manuscript, suggested by the small size of the pages, is that these selected verses were for use of a traveler. Whatever the exact purpose, the thematic rearrangement in MS C reveals a good knowledge of the wider Hebrew text of Ben Sira for the attested chapters, since the compiler often picks out a later verse on a similar theme to insert into an earlier chapter. In fact, MS C has a specific focus, described thus by Zappella: "From the material known to us, one has the impression that MS C wishes to avoid any saying that sounds too theoretical or doctrinal, and prefers instead those [sayings] concerning human experience." 36 The five sample passages (discussed above) offer some evidence that the composer of this MS has focused on social ethics, especially relations with ones wife and friends, as well as wise speech and avoidance of disgrace. Although there is an occasional mention of God, the main focus is on dealings with others. Whereas selected verses appear from the practical sapiential poem in 6:18-37 (namely 6:18-19, 28, 35), the newly discovered leaf passes directly from 23:11 to 25:7 without quoting any verses from the great theological wisdom poem of chapter 24. However, there are abundant quotations from 36:23-37:31, including the whole of 36:27-31 on the value of a wife, as well as extracts from 37:19-26 on the practical use of wisdom. 37 Here it is worth examining the use of the divine name in MS C in comparison with other textual traditions of Ben Sira. 38 Considering that more than a hundred bicola of Ben Sira survive in MS C, the mention of God is rare here (3:16, 18; 5:4; 7:4; 26:3). Indeed, within its 102 bicola, MS C refers to the Deity in only five places, as listed in Table For 26:3, where MS C is the only surviving Hebrew Ben Sira manuscript, we may make reference to the form of the saying preserved in the Talmud. 36 Zappella, "Criteri antologici," 276 n. 12 (translation mine). 37 Zappella, "Criteri antologici;' By way of comparison, the divine name KÛpioç ("Lord") occurs more than 200x in the Greek version of the book. On the divine names in the textual traditions of Ben Sira see W. Horbury, "The Deity in Ecclesiasticus," in The God of Israel (ed. R. P. Gordon; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), , esp , On the use of the Tetragrammaton and other divine names in Qumran writing see Skehan, "The Divine Name," 14-28; for their use in the non-canonical psalms (4Q380 and 4Q381) see Schuller, Non-Canonical Psalms from Qumran, Manuscript C matches the Syriac text in three out of the five cases and the Greek in two out of five cases. By way of comparison, in all the four preserved parallel cases MS A matches the Syriac and never the Greek (which has "Lord" throughout).

27 16 JEREMY CORLEY Divine Name MSC Other Hebrew Text Syriac Greek Uncials 3:16b ^("God") Man ("his Creator, MS A) His Creator [= MS A] KUpiou ("Lord") 3:18b trrbx ("God") bu ("God," MS A) God[=MSSAandC] KUpiou ("Lord") 5:4b (YHWH") ^ ("God," MS A) God [= MS A] KÛpio<;("Lord") [=MSC] 7:4a ^("God") ("God," MS A) God[=MSSAandC] Kupiou ("Lord") 26:3b (YHWH") DVfTK ("God," b. Sank Lord [= MSC] KÛpiov ("Lord") 100b) [=MSC] Table 5: Mentions of the Deity in Manuscript C Since only about 5% of the bicola included in MS C mention the Deity, it seems that the compiler of the manuscript avoided heavily theological passages. Table 6 samples some of the omitted bicola mentioning the Deity (adjacent to bicola included in MS C). Bicola Omitted from MS C 3:20 (but 3:21 included) 5:3 (but 5:4 included) 6:16 (but 6:15 included) 6:37 (but 7:1-2 included) 7:5 (but 7:4 and 7:6ab included) 25:10-11 (but 25:7-8 included) 26:14 (but 26:13 and 26:15 included) Mention of God in Hebrew MS A or Greek DTTW ("God? MS A) (YHWH," MS A) ("God," MS A) îrty ("Most High," MS A) Kupiou ("Lord") Oô[3oç. KUpiou ("fear of the Lord") Aôaiç Kupiou ("gift of the Lord") Table 6: Omitted Bicola Mentioning the Deity Comment on MS C "God" already mentioned in 3:16,18 "YHWH" mentioned in 5:4 "God" already mentioned in 7:4 "YHWH" already mentioned in 26:3 The data included in Table 6 confirm the view that MS C tends to avoid material dealing with doctrinal matters, so as to make space for sayings concerned with social ethics. D. COMPARISON WITH BEN SIRA SAYINGS IN RABBINIC LITERATURE Benjamin Wright has observed that Ben Sira was twice anthologized in medieval Judaism especially for his advice on women in Tractate Sanhédrin 100b and in Genizah MS C. 4 0 This observation makes it worthwhile to undertake a broader comparison of MS C with Ben Sira sayings occurring in rabbinic literature. In fact, it is noteworthy that almost twenty bicola found in MS C overlap with verses transmitted in Wright, "B. Sanhédrin 100b, M 49.

28 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA 17 rabbinic tradition, though the text is not always exactly identical. 41 It is thus interesting that almost a fifth of the approximately one hundred surviving bicola of MS C are quoted or alluded to in rabbinic texts from the Mishnah (ca. 200 CE) to Saadya Gaon (10 th century) and Rabbi Nissim ben Jacob (11 th century). Also interesting is the fact that neither MS C nor the rabbinic quotations or allusions listed in the studies of Solomon Schechter and Benjamin Wright include any of the Praise of the Ancestors (Sir 44:1-50:24). Table 7 lists rabbinic quotations of or allusions to Ben Sira passages preserved in MS C. 42 Book of Ben Sira in MSC Rabbinic Quotation or Allusion 3:21-22 B. Hag. 13a;;. Hag 77c; Midr. Gen. Rab. S;j. Sot. 22a 5:5-7 Nissim, Sefer Maaseiot; Saadya Gaon, Sefer hagalui 6:6 B. Sank. 100b; b. Yeb. 63b; Saadya Gaon, Sefer hagalui 6: 7-8,13 Saadya Gaon, Sefer hagalui 7:17 M. Abot 4:4 21:22-23 Pirka de Rabbenu Haqadosh 14a 23:11 Midr. Aseret Hadibrot 25:13,19 B. Shab. 11a 26:1,3 B. Sanh. 100b; b. Yeb. 63b Table 7: Bicola Preserved in Manuscrit C and Rabbinic Tradition Whereas MS C preserves only Ben Sira material, MSS A and B both include some sayings traditionally associated with the long Ben Sira quotation in Tractate Sanhédrin of the Babylonian Talmud (b. Sanh. 100b), which is mostly duplicated in Tractate Yebamot (b. Yeb. 63b). 43 Thus, 41 On the Ben Sira quotations in rabbinic literature, see S. Schechter, "The Quotations from Ecclesiasticus in Rabbinic Literature," JQR 3 ( ): ; A. E. Cowley and A. Neubauer, The Original Hebrew of a Portion of Ecclesiasticus (Oxford: Clarendon, 1897), xix-xxx; R. Smend, Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach erklârt (Berlin: Reimer, 1906), xlvi-lvi; M. Z. Segal, Sêper ben-sîra hallâtêm (3rd éd.; Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1972), 37-42; Wright, "B. Sanhédrin 100b," 41-50; D. S. Levene, "Theology and Non-Theology in the Rabbinic Ben Sira," in Ben Siras God (ed. R. Egger-Wenzel; BZAW 321; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2002), ; G. Veltri, Libraries, Translations, and 'Canonic Texts (JSJSup 109; Leiden: Brill, 2006), ; A. Linder, "Ricerche sul linguaggio di Ben Sira," RivB 54 (2006): , here 408-9; Labendz, "The Book of Ben Sira in Rabbinic Literature," This listing ignores some suggested cases (with a parallel in MS C) where the wording is not close: Sir 4:30 // b. Git. 6b; Sir 5:11 // m. Abot 5.10; Sir 7:2 // m. Abot 1.7; Sir 8:7 // Baraita Kallah 7b; Sir 21:22-23 // b. Nid. 16b; Sir 36:29 // b. Yeb. 62b. It also ignores the similarity of Sir 7:1 to Aramaic sayings in Midr. Gen. Rab. 22 and Midr. Qoh. Rab On this long rabbinic quotation see Schechter, "The Quotations from Ecclesiasticus," ,700-1; Wright, "B. Sanhédrin 100b," 41-50; Veltri, Libraries, Translations,

29 18 JEREMY CORLEY the text of 11:29-34 in MS A includes additions from Tractate Sanhédrin (as well as a bicolon from Jer 5:27 after Sir 11:29). 44 Moreover, in the margin of MS B around Sir 40:24 there is a passage, also found associated with the long Ben Sira quotation in Tractate Sanhédrin (b. Sanh. 100b), beginning with Prov 15:15a ("All the days of the poor are evil") and then adding an inauthentic saying about the rain falling on the roof of the poor man. 45 Thus, MS A (in the main text) and MS B (in the margin) transmit inauthentic Ben Sira material from Tractate Sanhédrin, whereas MS C contains none of this material. However, MS C does overlap with this Talmudic passage (b. Sanh. 100b) by including Sir 6:6 and 26:1, 3, though the text differs slightly. E. METHOD OF ARRANGING MATERIAL IN BEN SIRA MS C Finally we will consider the method of arranging material in MS C, in comparison with the arrangement in Genizah MSS A and B. As we have seen in the sample passages discussed above, the composer of MS C likes to use anaphora, either preserving or creating through juxtaposition a series of adjacent sayings beginning with the same word or phrase. 46 Table 8 lists such juxtapositions, with comments added on the reading of MS C in comparison with other forms of the text. Perhaps the most significant case of anaphora occurs in 7:23-24, where MS C repeats "if you have sons" in both verses, whereas MS A seems to preserve a more original reading with the series, "if you have sons,...if you have daughters,..." Another salient feature of the verse selection of MS C is the tendency to include the opening or closing bicolon of a pericope. Indeed, almost a fifth of the bicola in MS C (18 out of 102) serve as the opening or closing bicola of pericopes according to the divisions in standard commentaries. 47 This is evident from Table 9. and 'Canonic Texts, ; Levene, "Theology and Non-Theology," Segal, Sêper ben-sîra hallàlêm, Beentjes, The Book of Ben Sira in Hebrew, 70; Schechter, "The Quotations from Ecclesiasticus," Beentjes, "Hermeneutics," ; Zappella, "Criteri antologici," ; Elizur, "A New Hebrew Fragment," 20 n. 19. One case of rearrangement may possibly be for the sake of similar line endings, since the resequencing of 6:8 to follow 6:10 juxtaposes two bicola that show rhyme and assonance. 47 See Segal, Sêper ben-sîra halsàlëm, vi-viii; Skehan and Di Leila, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, xiii-xvi.

30 AN ALTERNATIVE HEBREW FORM OF BEN SIRA 19 MSC Anaphora Comment 3:17-18 My son Wording changed in second bicolon 4:21; 20:22-23 There is Bicola reordered 4:22-23, 30-31; 5:4 Do not Intervening bicola omitted 36:24; 6:5 Palate Bicola reordered 6:9,10, 8 There is a friend Bicola reordered 6:14-15 A faithful friend Omitting initial preposition from second bicolon 6:19cd, 28 Because Intervening bicola omitted 7:1-2,4,6 Do not Intervening bicola omitted 7:23-24 If you have sons Wording changed in second bicolon 18:32-33 Do not Original 20:5-6; 37:19, 22 There is Bicola reordered 37:24, 26; 20:13 Someone wise Bicola reordered 22:21-22 Against a friend Original 25:7-8 Happy is Original 25:8,13 A wife Intervening bicola omitted 26:1-3 A wife Original 26:13,15 Grace/graciousness Intervening bicolon omitted Table 8: Link Words Between Bicola in Manuscript C Pericope Theme MSC Start or end of Pericope 3:1-16 Care of parents 3:16 End 3:17-24 Humility 3:17 Start 4:20-31 Honor 4:31 End 5:9-13 Speech 5:9,13 Start 8c end 6:5-17 Friendship 6:5 Start 6:18-37 Seeking wisdom 6:18 Start 7:1-17 Honest conduct 7:1,17 Start & end 18:15-19:3 Discipline 19:2a, 3b End 20:1-31 Practical wisdom 20:31 End 25:13-26 Evil wife 25:13 Start 26:1-4 Good wife (part I) 26:1 Start 26:13-18 Good wife (part II) 26:13 Start 36:23-31 Choice of a wife 36:31 End 37:1-6 Friendship 37:1a Start 37:19-26 Wisdom 37:19, 26 Start & end Table 9: Selection of Bicola Opening or Closing Ben Sira Pericopes In the full text of Ben Sira it is noteworthy that many pericopes end with mention of death in some way (e.g., 7:17; 7:36; 9:9; 11:18; 14:19; 19:3; 28:7) J. Corley, "Searching for Structure and Redaction in Ben Sira: An Investigation of Beginnings and Endings," in The Wisdom of Ben Sira: Studies on Tradition, Redaction, and Theology (ed. A. Passaro and G. Bellia; DCLS 1; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008), 21-47,