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Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 1
Sir
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Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)
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Chapter 1
TRANSLATOR’S FOREWORD
1
Many and wonderful are the gifts we have been granted by means of the Law and the Prophets
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and the others that followed them,
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an education in wisdom on which Israelis indeed to be complimented.
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But it is not enough merely for those who read the scriptures to be learned in them;
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students should also be able to be of use to people outside
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by what they say and write.
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So it was that my grandfather Jesus,
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having devoted himself more and more to reading the Law
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and the prophets and
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the other volumes of the fathers,
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and having gained ability enough in these matters,
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was brought to the point of himself writing down of the things that have a bearing on education and wisdom,
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in order that those studiously inclined and with obligations in these maters
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might make all the more progress in living according to the Law.
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You are therefore asked
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to read this book
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with good will and attention :
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and to show indulgence
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in those places where, notwithstanding our efforts at interpretation, we may seem
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to have failed ,to give an adequate rendering of this or that expression;
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the fact is that you cannot find an equivalent
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for things originally written in Hebrew when you come to translate them into another language;
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what is more,
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you will find on examination that the Law itself, the Prophets
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and the other books
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differ considerably in translation from what appears in the original text.
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It was in the thirty-eighth year of the late King Euergetes[*a],
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when after my arrival in Egypt I had already spent some time there,
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that I found a work of more than common instructional worth,
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which convinced me of the urgency of applying myself in my turn with pains and diligence to the translation of the book that follows;
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and I spent much time and learning on it
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in the course of this period,
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to complete the work and to publish the book
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for the benefit especially of those who, domiciled abroad, wish to study how to fit themselves
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and their manners for living according to the Law.
Chapters of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
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