Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word
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⚙ Annotations & References ▾
Manuscript witnesses 2 ▾
Codex Sinaiticus Aleph c. AD 330-360 Codex Vaticanus B c. AD 300-325
What is Sirach 46 about?

The roll of the faithful moves into the age of conquest and the judges. Joshua son of Nun is praised as Moses' successor in prophecy, mighty in war, who saved the LORD's elect and before whom the sun stood still; Caleb is remembered for standing firm beside him against the murmuring congregation and receiving his inheritance; the judges who did not turn to idols are held in honored memory; and Samuel is celebrated as prophet and kingmaker, who anointed rulers, called on the LORD and was answered with thunder against the Philistines, and testified even after his death. Ben Sira gathers these deliverers to show that God raised up faithful leaders in every generation. Recounted this way, their example commends faithfulness and the fear of the LORD to those who would follow.

Historical backdrop

Ben Sira taught in Jerusalem around 180 BC, in the last calm before the storm. Judea had passed from Ptolemaic to Seleucid hands, Greek ways pressed in from every side, and the second temple still stood in the glory the high priest Simon had restored, the Simon whose splendor the book remembers. Within a generation Antiochus would defile that temple, and the grandson who carried the work to Egypt and turned it into Greek wrote in the aftermath, for the Jews of Alexandria.

The Church Fathers on Sirach 46
Deuterocanon (Catholic & Orthodox) · Accepted as canonical Scripture by the Catholic and Orthodox traditions and included in the original 1611 KJV (between the Old and New Testaments). Not in the Protestant 66-book canon. Read with the same care you bring to other Scripture, conscious that Protestants and Catholics weigh its authority differently.

Sirach 46

Sirach Chapter 46
46
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What is Sirach 46 about?

The roll of the faithful moves into the age of conquest and the judges. Joshua son of Nun is praised as Moses' successor in prophecy, mighty in war, who saved the LORD's elect and before whom the sun stood still; Caleb is remembered for standing firm beside him against the murmuring congregation and receiving his inheritance; the judges who did not turn to idols are held in honored memory; and Samuel is celebrated as prophet and kingmaker, who anointed rulers, called on the LORD and was answered with thunder against the Philistines, and testified even after his death. Ben Sira gathers these deliverers to show that God raised up faithful leaders in every generation. Recounted this way, their example commends faithfulness and the fear of the LORD to those who would follow.