About This Text
Author: Ben Sira
Composed: Second Temple Judea, 300 CE
Ben Sira, also known as Ecclesiasticus, is an apocryphal poetic book of guidance for living a wise, ethical, and God-fearing life, composed in the 2nd century BCE by a scribe in Jerusalem named Shimon ben Yeshua ben Elazar ben Sira. The book was translated into Greek by the author’s grandson, and by the early medieval period the original Hebrew was lost. In the late 19th century, fragments of the work in its original Hebrew were among the first texts discovered in the Cairo Genizah. Ben Sira is quoted several times throughout rabbinic literature and is the first known source for several customs that were later codified as law, like saying a blessing upon seeing a rainbow (Ben Sira 43:11).