Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word
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⚙ Annotations & References ▾
Historic voices 1 ▾
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2× 2, 8
Manuscript witnesses 2 ▾
Codex Sinaiticus Aleph c. AD 330-360 Codex Vaticanus B c. AD 300-325
What is Sirach 5 about?

Against the false security of riches, the chapter warns the reader not to trust in wealth or presume upon God's patience by saying he has sinned and suffered nothing. Because the LORD is slow to anger yet certain to judge, delay in turning to Him is folly. Ben Sira further condemns the double tongue and inconsistent speech, calling for steadiness in word and conviction. The warnings guard the heart against complacency, keeping the fear of the LORD from decaying into presumption.

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 5
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 5

Sirach Chapter 5
5
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What is Sirach 5 about?

Against the false security of riches, the chapter warns the reader not to trust in wealth or presume upon God's patience by saying he has sinned and suffered nothing. Because the LORD is slow to anger yet certain to judge, delay in turning to Him is folly. Ben Sira further condemns the double tongue and inconsistent speech, calling for steadiness in word and conviction. The warnings guard the heart against complacency, keeping the fear of the LORD from decaying into presumption.