The Book of Ben Sira comes to us in a bewildering variety of ancient textual forms. Each version shows how the book was received and interpreted in a new situation and by another community of readers. The present volume contains studies by some of the best specialists in this field of research. Each of the ancient text forms of Ben SiraâHebrew, Greek, Syriac, and Latinâis studied in its proper context and analysed in regard to what explains the typical changes it contains.
Jan Joosten, PhD (1989) Jerusalem, ThD (1994) Brussels, is Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at the Strasbourg University, France. His fields of special interest are the Septuagint and Hebrew syntax.
Preface
HEBREW TEXTS OF BEN SIRA
An Alternative Hebrew Form of Ben Sira: the Anthological Manuscript C
Jeremy Corley
Reconstructions and Retroversions: Chances and Challenges to the Hebrew Ben Sira Text
Pancratius C. Beentjes
Wordplay in the Hebrew to Ben Sira
Eric D. Reymond
Animal Imagery in the Hebrew Text of Ben Sirach
Nuria Calduch-Benages
SYRIAC VERSIONS OF BEN SIRA
Ben Sira in the Syriac Tradition
Wido van Peursen
Archaic Elements in the Syriac Version of Ben Sira
Jan Joosten
Christian Features in the Peshitta Text of Ben Sira: the Question of Dependency on the Syriac New Testament
Robert J. Owens
All those interested in the history and literature of Early Judaism, especially the book of Ben Sira, and ancient translations, particularly the Septuagint, the Vetus Latina and the Peshitta.