Sirach 36:21

[Vouthon]

**Sirach 36:21

“A woman will accept any man as a husband, but one girl is preferable to another”**

It might just be the NRSV translation but does anybody else find this to be a somewhat troubling verse?

 

[workingman]

**Sirach 36:21

“A woman will accept any man as a husband, but one girl is preferable to another”**

It might just be the NRSV translation but does anybody else find this to be a somewhat troubling verse?

At first yes. I read it in the DR in Ecclesiasticus 36:23. I ended up reading the commentary for it in the DR. It makes sence cosidering the times. Here is what was offered in the commentary (in red).

[23] A woman will receive every man: yet one daughter is better than another.

[23] “A woman will receive every man”… That is, any man that her parents propose to her to marry, though she does not like him, but marries in obedience to her parents, who make the choice for her.

I hope this helps.

 

[losh14]

Sirach 36:21
"A woman will accept any man as a husband, but one girl is preferable to another"

I think the author was praising women for being obedient, as was posted before, whereas men follow their whims. Remember, there was no dating at the time. You were often betrothed young. Eldest sons might be able to sway their parents’ decisions, but eldest daughters most likely not, and so it was a biased situation.

 

[Fr_of_Jazz]

**Sirach 36:21

“A woman will accept any man as a husband, but one girl is preferable to another”**

It might just be the NRSV translation but does anybody else find this to be a somewhat troubling verse?

The Anchor commentary on Sirach, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, talks about the “damaged state” at this point in the text of the Hebrew manuscript (B) containing this verse and says “any citations or reconstructions of the Hebrew are very tentative.” (p. 426) Actually the second part of the verse was eaten away in that manuscript. (427) All we have are Greek manuscript witnesses to this verse. Sirach was originally written in Hebrew. (51)

Perhaps the true gist is lost in translation.