GABIROL (R. Salomon ibn), ‏ספר מבחר הפנינים‎, A Choice of Pearls, originally compiled from the Arabic… translated into Hebrew by R. Jehuda ibn Tibbon, the Hebrew text… accompanied by a faithful English translation by the Rev. B. H. Ascher. London (Trübner), 5619-1859.

GEIGER (A.) in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, vol. xii. (p. 536 seqq.).

GRÄTZ (H.), Geschichte der Juden. Leipzig, 1874.

HAMBURGER (J.), Real-Encyclopädie für Bibel und Talmud. Supplement, Band i. p. 77 seqq. (art. Jesus Sohn Sirach). Leipzig, 1886.

HARKAVY (A.), Studien u. Mittheilungen aus der Kaiserlichen Oeffentlichen Bibliothek zu St. Petersburg: fünfter Theil, erstes Heft. St. Petersburg, 1891.

HATCH (E.), Essays in Biblical Greek (p. 246 seqq.). Oxford, 1889.

HOROWITZ (J.) in the Monatsschrift für Geschichte u. Wissenschaft des Judenthums, vol. xiv. (p. 1 of seqq., p. 136 seqq., p. 178 seqq.).

KOHUT (A.), Aruch completum. Viennae, 1878-1892.

LAGARDE (P. A. de), Libri Veteris Testamenti Apocryphi Syriace. Lipsiae, 1861.

— Mittheilungen. Göttingen, 1884 (p. 285 seqq.).

LAMBERT (M.), Commentaire sur le Séfer Yesira… par le Gaon Saadya. Paris, 1891.

MARGOLIOUTH (D. S.) in the Expositor, April and May, 1890.

MIDRASH TANḤUMA, ed. Warsaw, 1879.

— RABBA. Frankfurt, 1705.

NEUBAUER (Ad.) in the Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. iv. (p. 162 seqq.).

— Catalogue of Hebrew MSS. in the Bodleian Library. Oxford, 1886.

RAPOPORT (S. J.) in the Hebrew periodical ‏בסורי העתים‎, x. p. 116 seqq. (on Qalir). Wien, 1829.

REIFMANN (J.) in the periodical ‏האסיף‎, vol. iii. Warsaw, 1886.

— ‏מאמר ארבעה חרשים‎. Prag, 1860.

— in the periodical ‏הכרמל‎, ii. p. 124 seqq. Wilna, 1873.

DE Rossi (Asaria), ‏מאור עינים‎, section ‏אמרי בינה‎ (p. 29 seqq.). Mantua, 1574.

SCHECHTER (S.) in the Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. iii. no. 12 (July, 1891).

— in the Expositor, 5th series, no. xix. (July, 1896).

— Aboth de Rabbi Nathan. Vindobonae, 1887.

SCHÜRER (E.) in the English translation, A History of the Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ, 2nd division, vol. iii. Edinburgh, 1886.

— in the Realencyclopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, 3rd ed. Leipzig, 1896 (art. Apocryphen des Alten Testaments).

SeADYAH, ‏ספר הגלוי‎, in, in Studien u. Mittheilungen aus der Kaiserlichen Oeffentlichen Bibliothek zu St. Petersburg, von Dr. A. Harkavy: fünfter Theil, erstes Heft. St. Petersburg, 1891.

SINGER (S.), The Authorised Daily Prayer Book. London, 5655-1895.

STEINSCHNEIDER (M.), ‏אלפאביתא רבן סירא‎, Alphabetum Siracidis utrumque. Berolini, 1858.

— Die Hebräischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters. Berlin, 1893.

— Catalogus Librorum Hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana. Berolini, 1852-1860.

STRAALEN (S. van), Catalogue of Hebrew Books in the British Museum. (London), 1894.

SWETE (H. B., D. D.), The Old Testament in Greek according to the LXX, vol. ii. Cambridge, 1891.

TALMUD, the Jerusalem. Krotoschin, 1866.

— the Babylonian. Frankfurt a. M., 1721.

TAWROGI (A. J.), Derech Erez Sutta. Königsberg, 1885.

TAYLOR (C.), Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, comprising Pirqe Aboth and Pereq R. Meir. Cambridge, 1877.

WOLFSOHN, see Ben Seeb.

YETSIRA (Sepher), see Lambert.

ZEDNER, Catalogue of Hebrew Books in the Library of the British Museum. (London), 1867.

ZOHAR, ed. Lublin, 1882.

ZUNZ (L.), Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden… zweite… Auflage… herausgegeben von Dr. N. Brüll. Frankfurt a. M., 1892.

Ben Sira's Proverbs Preserved In Talmudic And Rabbinic Literature

I.

Sir. 3, 21.

a.

Seadyah in ‏ס״ הגלוי‎ (ed. Harkavy), p. 178, 1. 18, quotes as an extract from the Wisdom of Eleazar ben Irai (see Preface, p. xi) the following: (This seems to be the original text of Ben Sira.)

Inquire not into that which is too difficult for thee;
and that which is concealed from thee search not out.
Attend to that which is permitted to thee:
thou hast no business with hidden things.

b.

J. T. Ḥaghigah, ii. (fol. 77c).

That which is too difficult for thee, why shouldest thou know?
that which is deeper than Sheol, why shouldest thou search out?
Attend to that which is permitted to thee:
thou hast no business with hidden things.

c.

B. T. Ḥaghigah, fol. 130.

Inquire not into that which is too great for thee;
and that which is too hard for thee, search not out.
That which is too difficult for thee do not know;
and that which is concealed from thee do not ask.
Attend to that which is permitted to thee;
thou hast no business with hidden things.

II.

Sir. 4, 30. B. T. Gittin, fol. 6b.

Let a man never bring excessive terror into his house.

III.

Sir. 5, 4. B. T. Haghigah, fol. 160.

If the evil propensity say to thee, Sin, for the Holy One (blessed be he!) excuseth, do not believe.

IV.

Sir. 5, 5.
Seadyah, p. 176, 1. 19.

And be not confident of pardon,
to add iniquity to iniquity,
or say, His mercies are great,
he will pardon the multitude of my iniquities;
for mercy and wrath are with him,
and his might resteth upon the wicked.

V.

Sir. 5, 7. B. T. Shabbath, fol. 183a.

Repent one day before thy death.

VI.

Sir. 5, 15.

Great and small do not injure.

Aboth, iv. 6.

Despise not any man.

VII.

Sir. 6, 6. Seadyah, op. cit., p. 178, l. 1; also B. T. Yebamoth, fol. 63b, and Synhedrin, fol. 100b, where the words of Micha 7, 5, follow.

Let those that are at peace with thee be many,
but reveal thy secret to one of a thousand
[keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom].

VIII.

Sir. 6, 7.
Seadyah, p. 178, 1. 3.

If thou gettest a friend, get him by proving,
and be not hasty to trust in him;
for there is a friend according to the occasion;
and he will not abide in the day of adversity.

IX.

Sir. 6, 13.
Seadyah, p. 178, 1. 8.

Separate thyself from them that hate thee,
and be careful of thy friends.

X.

Sir. 7, 1. Cf. 12, 2.
Bereshith R., p. 44a; Midrash Qoheleth v; Midrash Tanhuma ‏חקת‎ § 1.

Ben Sira said the proverb: Do not good to the evil, and evil will not befall thee.

See Schechter, J. Q. R. iii. p. 694, No. 17 and note.

XI.

Sir. 7, 10.
B. T. Erubin, fol. 65a.

Text has ‏יורה‎ ‘to teach.’ Rashi (Solomon of Troyes) says: I have searched to find this verse in the Hagiographa, but did not succeed. Perhaps it is in Sirach.

Rab said: Let not a man pray whose mind is not at rest within him, because it is said: In adversity who shall give thanks?

Perhaps a reminiscence of Ps. 6, 6.

XII.

Sir. 7, 17.
Aboth, iv. 7. Cf. No. LVI below.

Be humble exceedingly in spirit;
for the hope of man is a worm, and the son of man is a maggot (cf. Job 25, 6).

XIII.

Sir. 8, 5.
Mishnah Baba Metsia, iv. 10.

If a man repents, one does not say to him,
Remember thy former doings.

XIV.

Sir. 8, 8.
B. T. Sukkah, fol. 21b, and Abodah Zarah, fol. 19b.

Rab said: Even the ordinary conversation of the wise requires learning.

XV.

Sir. 8, 18.
B. T. Pesahim, fol. 49b.

Six things are said of the people of the land (the unlearned)…; and they reveal not to him a secret.

XVI.

Sir. 9,
8. B. T. Synhedrin, fol. 100b; Yebamoth, fol. 63b.
So Rashi (ap. Schechter, ibid., p. 100, note 36), ed.

Hide thine eyes from a comely woman,
lest thou be caught in her snares;
turn not aside to her, to mingle wine and strong drink with her:
for through the beauty of a fair woman many have been destroyed,
and ‘all her slain are a mighty host’ (Prov. 7, 26).

XVII.

Sir. 11, 1.
So in J. T. Berakhoth, vii. 2, and in Midrashim: the B. T. Berakhoth, fol. 48a, quotes Proverbs 4, 8, entire, omitting the last three words of the saying. See Reifmann’s essay on Ben Sira in rpm iii. p. 248, 3.

In the book of Ben Sira it is written:
Exalt her and she shall lift thee up (Prov. 4, 8), and set thee among princes.

XVIII.

Sir. 11, 8.
Aboth, v. 10.

Seven things are in a clod, and seven in a wise man. (The wise man) … does not interrupt the words of his companion; and is not hasty to reply …

Cf. Prov. 18, 13. Monatsschrift, 1865, p. 186, note 8.

XIX.

Sir. II, 9.
Midrash Tanḥuma (p. 73a) ‏וארא‎, ‏ה‎.

For he was busied with matters whereof he had no need.

XX.

Sir. 11, 28.
Seadyah, p. 178, 1. 6.

Call no one happy before (his) death,
for by his end shall a man be known.

XXI.

Sir. II, 29.
B. T. Synhedrin, fol. 100b; Yebamoth, fol. 63b.