Protestants are missing out on the book of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)

[Geist]

The book of Ecclesiasticus is undoubtedly one of my favourite books in the whole Bible! It is filled with so many sayings that are easy to relate to. The book rivals even the very Book of Proverbs, and if both books were to be read side-by-side, you would be the wisest person on earth!

Its is a sad thing to see our Protestant brethren miss out on some divinely inspired wise sayings of Yeshua ben Sira (Jesus son of Sirach) simply because they defiled the Word of God by excluding such a magnificent peace of writing.


What are your views concerning this book?

I felt the exact same way! I’ll be honest, some books of the OT I really skimmed over (like Leviticus-I’m not a Levite priest, so, kind of pointless-and boring), but I devoured Sirach slowly.

The humanity and sly humor of the author really shines through, and it’s amazing how relevant it all is in 2012…I guess people never do change.

 

[Dave_Noonan]

The book of Ecclesiasticus is undoubtedly one of my favourite books in the whole Bible! It is filled with so many sayings that are easy to relate to. The book rivals even the very Book of Proverbs, and if both books were to be read side-by-side, you would be the wisest person on earth!

Its is a sad thing to see our Protestant brethren miss out on some divinely inspired wise sayings of Yeshua ben Sira (Jesus son of Sirach) simply because they defiled the Word of God by excluding such a magnificent peace of writing.


What are your views concerning this book?

Actually, Protestants that follow the Revised Common Lectionary (most mainline churches plus some other Protestant groups) would hear more of Ecclesiasticus on Sunday mornings than would Roman Catholics.

 

[Dave_Noonan]

Yes it would and that’s why us Catholics (Roman and eastern) use the Septuagint. The problem is the King James version only crowd of protestants that are fully behind the Masoretic text. It’s saddening to see some of our brethren use such a spoilt version of the OT instead of the LXX.

Actually, your Catholic OT is a translation of the MT, not of the Septuagint, except for the Deuterocanon. Also, Catholic Bibles do not contain the entirety of the Septuagint, so it’s inaccurate to say that Catholics “use the Septuagint” unless you are speaking restrictively of the Deuterocanon.

 

[Indiana_Jones]

What are your views concerning this book?

It’s a fantastic book. I first read it about a year ago, and it blew me away. Very cool, very useful!

 

[Publisher]

As had been stated in another post many “mainline Protestant” bodies DO use the Duet/Apoc…I have for the last 30 years used the Oxford Study Bible Expanded Edition…it contains those books which are used by Orthodox, but not Catholics or Protestants as a whole…it was published in the '70’s as “The Common Bible”…is sought to be an edition of scripture that ALL Christians could use…

Catholics claim to use the “whole Bible”…yet Orthodox have more books in their Bibles than do Catholics…Catholic DO NOT use the whole LXX…they too “reject scripture”…a charge I have seen leveled at Protestants by Catholics on this forum…most “blame” Luther…but even in Luther’s time those books he placed in the appendix WERE disputed at that time in the Catholic church…only afterwards did the Catholic church “finalize” the canon…however the Catholic church “rejected” books of scripture used by the “undivided church”…seems like when the accusation is leveled against Protestants by Catholics…the old addage rings true…“when you point your finger at another…there are 4 fingers pointing back at you.”…

 

[Splagchnizomai]

Catholics claim to use the “whole Bible”…yet Orthodox have more books in their Bibles than do Catholics…Catholic DO NOT use the whole LXX

Publisher, could you tell me what the differences are? I recall that the Orthodox Study Bible has Psalm 151, but I can’t recall other differences.

 

[Publisher]

Publisher, could you tell me what the differences are? I recall that the Orthodox Study Bible has Psalm 151, but I can’t recall other differences.

3 & 4 Maccabees, Esdras in a different numbering and additional material from Orthodox…Prayer of Manessah…you already named Psalm 151…Letter of Jeremiah…

If I recall…the letter of Jeremiah is in a different location in Catholic bibles…not sure.

The Protestant version has 66, Catholic 73 and Orthodox 78…some Orthodox groups have even more.

 

[Splagchnizomai]

3 & 4 Maccabees, Esdras in a different numbering and additional material from Orthodox…Prayer of Manessah…you already named Psalm 151…Letter of Jeremiah…

If I recall…the letter of Jeremiah is in a different location in Catholic bibles…not sure.

The Protestant version has 66, Catholic 73 and Orthodox 78…some Orthodox groups have even more.

Thank you!