[B-Greek] Sirach 38:1-8

Maurice A. O'Sullivan mauros at iol.ie
Wed Oct 22 10:06:56 EDT 2003


At 13:11 22/10/2003, Chet Creider wrote:

>Has the Hebrew for this section
>been found?  If so, does it help? (In his prologue, Sirach's grandson
>(?) implies that making the translation was difficult for him.)

Chet:

In vol. 39 of the Anchor Bible [ Skehan, Patrick W., trans. The Wisdom of 
Ben Sira. 39. Anchor Bible, Albright, W.F; Freedman, David Noel. New York: 
Doubleday, 1987. ( Introduction and commentary: Alexander Di Lella ) ] the 
first footnote to 38:1-23 reads:
 >> After v. 1a ( Mss. D, B ) the Heb is witnessed only by Ms. B and by 
sparse reflections of vv. 1, 4 in Talmud and Midrash.<<

pp. 51-61 deal with the Hebrew and other ancient versions, and on p.93/94 
there is an extensive bibliography on the "Geniza, Qumran, and Massada MSS 
of Ben Sira".

As to Carl's comments on XULON, I find quite a variety of meanings cited in:
J. Lust., E. Eynekel, and K. Hauspie. A Greek-English Lexicon of the 
Septuagint.  [ now very usefully available as an e-book in the Logos 
Libronix system, from which I quote:

 >>  XULON
  wood, firewood Gn 22,3; timber Gn 6,14; wooden image, idol Dt 4,28; 
handle Dt 19,5(tertio); shaft (of a spear) 2 Sm 21,19; wooden collar, yoke 
Lam 5,13; stocks (as instrument of punishment) Jb 33,11; tree Gn 2,9; 
wooden objects, esp. vessels Ex 7,19
Lust, J., Eynikel, E., & Hauspie, K. (2003). A Greek-English Lexicon of the 
Septuagint : Revised Edition. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft: Stuttgart.<<

Skehan's translation of vv. 1-8 reads:

1 Make friends with the physician, for he is essential to you
2 From God the doctor has his wisdom,
      and from the king he receives his sustenance.
3 Knowledge makes the doctor distinguished,
      and gives him access to those in authority.
4 God makes the earth yield healing herbs,
      which the prudent should not neglect.
5 Was not the water sweetened by a twig
      that people might learn his power?
6 He endows humans with the knowledge
      to glory in his mighty works,
7 Through which the doctor eases pain
8   and the druggist prepares his medicines;
    Thus God's creative work continues without cease
      in its efficacy on the surface of the earth.

I trust this is of help

Maurice



Maurice A. O'Sullivan
mauros at iol.ie
[ Bray, Ireland ]

"God does a lot of things in the Psalms
that He can't get away with in systematic theology."



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