Sirach - To the Reader - Edition of the Greek Text

Oct 3, 2026

Translation preface explaining how NETS presents the Greek text of Sirach. It describes competing titles across Hebrew, Vulgate, and Jewish-Greek traditions; the use of Joseph Ziegler’s Göttingen edition; and how punctuation and chapter-verse numbering reflect Ziegler’s ordering, including displaced Greek manuscript sequences. It also details conjectural reconstructions of missing originals, contrasts NETS with NRSV and related commentary, and explains the treatment of later Greek recensions (GKII) via bracketed and italicized passages.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages49

Reading Time2 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Sirach to the Reader

Edition of the Greek Text

The Hebrew and Greek Texts of Ben Sira

The Later Greek Recension (GKII)

30-Sir-NETS-4 .qxd 11/10/2009 10:38 PM Page | 71 | 5 | | --- | --- | | | | SIRACH TO THE READER EDITION OF THE GREEK TEXT The book of Sirach actually has three different titles, depending on the language of its transmission orthe religious tradition that reads it. In Hebrew the book is known as The Wisdom of Joshua (Jesus) Ben Sira. In the Vulgate, the book is called Ecclesiasticus (the church’s book) . In the Jewish-Greek scriptures and for NETS, the title is that given above, Sirach. For Sirach, I have used the Göttingen edition of Joseph Ziegler (Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum Auctoritate Academiae Litterarum Gottingensis editum XII.2: Sapientia Iesu Filii Sirach [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1965]) . In his critical text, Ziegler places verses from a later Greek recension (GKII; see below) in smaller typeface, and I have followed his judgments as to what constitutes GKII. As a result, I have punctuated the entire consecutive text, including the GKII. In some cases, if the reader skips over the GKII, the punctuation might not make the best English sense, since it relies on the presence of the additional verses. All the Greek manuscripts extant for Sirach contain a textual displacement in which the order of 30 .25–33. 13a and 33. 13b–36 . 16a is reversed. Ziegler has placed the Greek in the correct order. The NRSV along with Patrick W. Skehan’s and Alexander Di Lella’s Anchor Bible commentary follow Ziegler in giving the text in its proper order. In the NETS translation, I have followed suit, and I give the chapter and verse numbers following the correct order with the chapter and verse numbers of the Greek in its displaced order in parentheses. One feature of Ziegler’s edition is the frequency of reconstructions of an original Greek text that nowhere exists in the Greek manuscript tradition. Usually Ziegler takes his cue from Alfred Rahlfs or Rudolph Smend in deciding that the entire Greek tradition is a corruption of a no-longer-extant Greek original. I have followed Ziegler in almost every case. For example, NETS for Sir 3.17 reads, “Child, in gentleness conduct your affairs, and you will be loved more than a person who gives,” which reflects Ziegler’s text, 9up\er 1anqrwpon do/thn, instead of the majority of the Greek tradition, which reads 9up\o 0anqrw&pou dekto “by an acceptable person.” Ziegler has adopted this conjecture from Smend, who, based on the Hebrew texts and the Latin version, concluded that the Greek manuscript tradition preserved a corruption. The NRSV seems to depend here on the Greek manuscript tradition, although it has glossed the verse, apparently to wring some meaning out of it. THE HEBREW AND GREEK TEXTS OF BEN SIRA The textual situation of the Wisdom of Ben Sira, notably the often confused and fragmentary state of the Hebrew manuscripts, created some unique difficulties for this translation. Hebrew texts of Ben Sira are extant for about two-thirds of the book. Portions of chapters 39–44 survive in the Masada manuscript, which dates from the first century BCE. 2Q18 contains the remains of several lines, and 11QPsa preservesa number of verses from chapter 51. The most extensive extant Hebrew sections are found in the six fragmentary manuscripts (designated A–F) discovered in the Cairo Geniza. On occasion the contents of these manuscripts overlap, but more often only one manuscript preserves any given passage from Ben Sira in Hebrew. The Hebrew manuscripts do, however, seem, in their essentials, to preserve the Hebrew of Ben Sira but not without numerous mistakes, additions and corruptions. The ultimate effect of this situation on the NETS translation is simply to make comparison between the Hebrew and Greek for matters such as vocabulary consistency, lexical choice and other elements of translation technique much more difficult to isolate and characterize. As a result of the Hebrew textual situation, I have had to approach the translation of this book more fr

FAQs

Why does Sirach have different titles in different traditions?

The preface explains that the book’s name varies by transmission language and religious tradition: Hebrew is associated with the Wisdom of Joshua (Jesus) Ben Sira, the Vulgate uses Ecclesiasticus, and NETS uses “Sirach” based on the Jewish-Greek scriptures tradition.

What editorial approach does NETS use for the Greek text?

NETS follows Joseph Ziegler’s Göttingen edition, including Ziegler’s judgments about what constitutes GKII and the decision to punctuate the entire consecutive text, including GKII.

How does NETS handle later Greek recensions (GKII) in the translation?

GKII passages are included in the running text where they belong and are marked by square brackets and italics, so the reader can distinguish them while keeping the main Greek-based structure.

Oct 3, 2026

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