4. Septuagint, Ecclesiasticus (Siracides), 7.9, 7.29-7.31, 23.17, 24.1, 25.1-25.2, 25.7-25.11, 26.5-26.9, 26.28-26.29, 30.1, 30.18, 31.21-31.22, 38.24-38.25, 39.1-39.5, 39.7-39.9, 44.1, 45.9-45.36, 46.7, 47.6, 47.8, 47.11, 50.1-50.24, 50.26-50.29, 51.13 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 7.9. Do not say, "He will consider the multitude of my gifts,and when I make an offering to the Most High God he will accept it. 7.29. With all your soul fear the Lord,and honor his priests. 7.31. Fear the Lord and honor the priest,and give him his portion, as is commanded you:the first fruits, the guilt offering, the gift of the shoulders,the sacrifice of sanctification,and the first fruits of the holy things. 24.1. Wisdom will praise herself,and will glory in the midst of her people. 24.1. In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him,and so I was established in Zion. 25.1. My soul takes pleasure in three things,and they are beautiful in the sight of the Lord and of men;agreement between brothers, friendship between neighbors,and a wife and a husband who live in harmony. 25.1. How great is he who has gained wisdom!But there is no one superior to him who fears the Lord. 25.2. My soul hates three kinds of men,and I am greatly offended at their life:a beggar who is proud, a rich man who is a liar,and an adulterous old man who lacks good sense. 25.7. With nine thoughts I have gladdened my heart,and a tenth I shall tell with my tongue:a man rejoicing in his children;a man who lives to see the downfall of his foes; 25.8. happy is he who lives with an intelligent wife,and he who has not made a slip with his tongue,and he who has not served a man inferior to himself; 25.9. happy is he who has gained good sense,and he who speaks to attentive listeners. 25.11. The fear of the Lord surpasses everything;to whom shall be likened the one who holds it fast? 26.5. of three things my heart is afraid,and of a fourth I am frightened:The slander of a city, the gathering of a mob,and false accusation -- all these are worse than death. 26.6. There is grief of heart and sorrow when a wife is envious of a rival, and a tongue-lashing makes it known to all. 26.7. An evil wife is an ox yoke which chafes;taking hold of her is like grasping a scorpion. 26.8. There is great anger when a wife is drunken;she will not hide her shame. 26.9. A wifes harlotry shows in her lustful eyes,and she is known by her eyelids. 26.28. At two things my heart is grieved,and because of a third anger comes over me:a warrior in want through poverty,and intelligent men who are treated contemptuously;a man who turns back from righteousness to sin -- the Lord will prepare him for the sword! 30.1. He who loves his son will whip him often,in order that he may rejoice at the way he turns out. 30.1. Do not laugh with him, lest you have sorrow with him,and in the end you will gnash your teeth. 30.18. Good things poured out upon a mouth that is closed are like offerings of food placed upon a grave. 31.21. If you are overstuffed with food,get up in the middle of the meal, and you will have relief. 31.22. Listen to me, my son, and do not disregard me,and in the end you will appreciate my words. In all your work be industrious,and no sickness will overtake you. 38.24. The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure;and he who has little business may become wise. 38.25. How can he become wise who handles the plow,and who glories in the shaft of a goad,who drives oxen and is occupied with their work,and whose talk is about bulls? 39.1. On the other hand he who devotes himself to the study of the law of the Most High will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients,and will be concerned with prophecies; 39.1. Nations will declare his wisdom,and the congregation will proclaim his praise; 39.2. he will preserve the discourse of notable men and penetrate the subtleties of parables; 39.2. From everlasting to everlasting he beholds them,and nothing is marvelous to him. 39.3. he will seek out the hidden meanings of proverbs and be at home with the obscurities of parables. 39.3. the teeth of wild beasts, and scorpions and vipers,and the sword that punishes the ungodly with destruction; 39.4. He will serve among great men and appear before rulers;he will travel through the lands of foreign nations,for he tests the good and the evil among men. 39.5. He will set his heart to rise early to seek the Lord who made him,and will make supplication before the Most High;he will open his mouth in prayer and make supplication for his sins. 39.7. He will direct his counsel and knowledge aright,and meditate on his secrets. 39.8. He will reveal instruction in his teaching,and will glory in the law of the Lords covet. 39.9. Many will praise his understanding,and it will never be blotted out;his memory will not disappear,and his name will live through all generations. 44.1. Let us now praise famous men,and our fathers in their generations. 44.1. But these were men of mercy,whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten; 45.9. And he encircled him with pomegranates,with very many golden bells round about,to send forth a sound as he walked,to make their ringing heard in the temple as a reminder to the sons of his people; 45.11. with twisted scarlet, the work of a craftsman;with precious stones engraved like signets,in a setting of gold, the work of a jeweler,for a reminder, in engraved letters,according to the number of the tribes of Israel; 45.12. with a gold crown upon his turban,inscribed like a signet with "Holiness," a distinction to be prized, the work of an expert,the delight of the eyes, richly adorned. 45.13. Before his time there never were such beautiful things. No outsider ever put them on,but only his sons and his descendants perpetually. 45.14. His sacrifices shall be wholly burned twice every day continually. 45.15. Moses ordained him,and anointed him with holy oil;it was an everlasting covet for him and for his descendants all the days of heaven,to minister to the Lord and serve as priest and bless his people in his name. 45.16. He chose him out of all the living to offer sacrifice to the Lord,incense and a pleasing odor as a memorial portion,to make atonement for the people. 45.17. In his commandments he gave him authority and statutes and judgments,to teach Jacob the testimonies,and to enlighten Israel with his law. 45.18. Outsiders conspired against him,and envied him in the wilderness,Dathan and Abiram and their men and the company of Korah, in wrath and anger. 45.19. The Lord saw it and was not pleased,and in the wrath of his anger they were destroyed;he wrought wonders against them to consume them in flaming fire. 45.21. for they eat the sacrifices to the Lord,which he gave to him and his descendants. 45.22. But in the land of the people he has no inheritance,and he has no portion among the people;for the Lord himself is his portion and inheritance. 45.23. Phinehas the son of Eleazar is the third in glory,for he was zealous in the fear of the Lord,and stood fast, when the people turned away,in the ready goodness of his soul,and made atonement for Israel. 45.24. Therefore a covet of peace was established with him,that he should be leader of the sanctuary and of his people,that he and his descendants should have the dignity of the priesthood for ever. 45.25. A covet was also established with David,the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah:the heritage of the king is from son to son only;so the heritage of Aaron is for his descendants. 45.26. May the Lord grant you wisdom in your heart to judge his people in righteousness,so that their prosperity may not vanish,and that their glory may endure throughout their generations. 46.7. And in the days of Moses he did a loyal deed,he and Caleb the son of Jephunneh:they withstood the congregation,restrained the people from sin,and stilled their wicked murmuring. 47.6. So they glorified him for his ten thousands,and praised him for the blessings of the Lord,when the glorious diadem was bestowed upon him. 47.8. In all that he did he gave thanks to the Holy One, the Most High, with ascriptions of glory;he sang praise with all his heart,and he loved his Maker. 47.11. The Lord took away his sins,and exalted his power for ever;he gave him the covet of kings and a throne of glory in Israel. 50.1. The leader of his brethren and the pride of his people was Simon the high priest, son of Onias,who in his life repaired the house,and in his time fortified the temple. 50.1. like an olive tree putting forth its fruit,and like a cypress towering in the clouds. 50.2. He laid the foundations for the high double walls,the high retaining walls for the temple enclosure. 50.2. Then Simon came down, and lifted up his hands over the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,to pronounce the blessing of the Lord with his lips,and to glory in his name; 50.3. In his days a cistern for water was quarried out,a reservoir like the sea in circumference. 50.4. He considered how to save his people from ruin,and fortified the city to withstand a seige. 50.5. How glorious he was when the people gathered round him as he came out of the inner sanctuary! 50.7. like the sun shining upon the temple of the Most High,and like the rainbow gleaming in glorious clouds; 50.8. like roses in the days of the first fruits,like lilies by a spring of water,like a green shoot on Lebanon on a summer day; 50.9. like fire and incense in the censer,like a vessel of hammered gold adorned with all kinds of precious stones; 50.11. When he put on his glorious robe and clothed himself with superb perfection and went up to the holy altar,he made the court of the sanctuary glorious. 50.12. And when he received the portions from the hands of the priests,as he stood by the hearth of the altar with a garland of brethren around him,he was like a young cedar on Lebanon;and they surrounded him like the trunks of palm trees 50.13. all the sons of Aaron in their splendor with the Lords offering in their hands,before the whole congregation of Israel. 50.14. Finishing the service at the altars,and arranging the offering to the Most High, the Almighty 50.15. he reached out his hand to the cup and poured a libation of the blood of the grape;he poured it out at the foot of the altar,a pleasing odor to the Most High, the King of all. 50.16. Then the sons of Aaron shouted,they sounded the trumpets of hammered work,they made a great noise to be heard for remembrance before the Most High. 50.17. Then all the people together made haste and fell to the ground upon their faces to worship their Lord,the Almighty, God Most High. 50.18. And the singers praised him with their voices in sweet and full-toned melody. 50.19. And the people besought the Lord Most High in prayer before him who is merciful,till the order of worship of the Lord was ended;so they completed his service. 50.21. and they bowed down in worship a second time,to receive the blessing from the Most High. 50.22. And now bless the God of all,who in every way does great things;who exalts our days from birth,and deals with us according to his mercy. 50.23. May he give us gladness of heart,and grant that peace may be in our days in Israel,as in the days of old. 50.24. May he entrust to us his mercy!And let him deliver us in our days! 50.26. Those who live on Mount Seir, and the Philistines,and the foolish people that dwell in Shechem. 50.27. Instruction in understanding and knowledge I have written in this book,Jesus the son of Ecclesiasticus (Siracides), son of Eleazar, of Jerusalem,who out of his heart poured forth wisdom. 50.28. Blessed is he who concerns himself with these things,and he who lays them to heart will become wise. 50.29. For if he does them, he will be strong for all things,for the light of the Lord is his path. 51.13. While I was still young, before I went on my travels,I sought wisdom openly in my prayer. |
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5. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 9.291, 11.340-11.341, 12.137-12.144, 12.258-12.264, 13.74 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 9.291. And when they see the Jews in prosperity, they pretend that they are changed, and allied to them, and call them kinsmen, as though they were derived from Joseph, and had by that means an original alliance with them; but when they see them falling into a low condition, they say they are no way related to them, and that the Jews have no right to expect any kindness or marks of kindred from them, but they declare that they are sojourners, that come from other countries. But of these we shall have a more seasonable opportunity to discourse hereafter. 11.341. for such is the disposition of the Samaritans, as we have already elsewhere declared, that when the Jews are in adversity, they deny that they are of kin to them, and then they confess the truth; but when they perceive that some good fortune hath befallen them, they immediately pretend to have communion with them, saying that they belong to them, and derive their genealogy from the posterity of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh. 12.137. This it is which Polybius relates. But we will return to the series of the history, when we have first produced the epistles of king Antiochus: 12.138. “King Antiochus To Ptolemy, Sendeth Greeting. /p“Since the Jews, upon our first entrance on their country, demonstrated their friendship towards us, and when we came to their city [Jerusalem], received us in a splendid manner, and came to meet us with their senate, and gave abundance of provisions to our soldiers, and to the elephants, and joined with us in ejecting the garrison of the Egyptians that were in the citadel 12.139. we have thought fit to reward them, and to retrieve the condition of their city, which hath been greatly depopulated by such accidents as have befallen its inhabitants, and to bring those that have been scattered abroad back to the city. 12.141. And these payments I would have fully paid them, as I have sent orders to you. I would also have the work about the temple finished, and the cloisters, and if there be any thing else that ought to be rebuilt. And for the materials of wood, let it be brought them out of Judea itself and out of the other countries, and out of Libanus tax free; and the same I would have observed as to those other materials which will be necessary, in order to render the temple more glorious; 12.142. and let all of that nation live according to the laws of their own country; and let the senate, and the priests, and the scribes of the temple, and the sacred singers, be discharged from poll-money and the crown tax and other taxes also. 12.143. And that the city may the sooner recover its inhabitants, I grant a discharge from taxes for three years to its present inhabitants, and to such as shall come to it, until the month Hyperberetus. 12.144. We also discharge them for the future from a third part of their taxes, that the losses they have sustained may be repaired. And all those citizens that have been carried away, and are become slaves, we grant them and their children their freedom, and give order that their substance be restored to them.” 12.258. So they sent ambassadors to Antiochus, and an epistle, whose contents are these: “To king Antiochus the god, Epiphanes, a memorial from the Sidonians, who live at Shechem. 12.259. Our forefathers, upon certain frequent plagues, and as following a certain ancient superstition, had a custom of observing that day which by the Jews is called the Sabbath. And when they had erected a temple at the mountain called Gerrizzim, though without a name, they offered upon it the proper sacrifices. 12.261. We therefore beseech thee, our benefactor and Savior, to give order to Apollonius, the governor of this part of the country, and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs, to give us no disturbance, nor to lay to our charge what the Jews are accused for, since we are aliens from their nation, and from their customs; but let our temple, which at present hath no name at all be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius. If this were once done, we should be no longer disturbed, but should be more intent on our own occupation with quietness, and so bring in a greater revenue to thee.” 12.262. When the Samaritans had petitioned for this, the king sent them back the following answer, in an epistle: “King Antiochus to Nicanor. The Sidonians, who live at Shechem, have sent me the memorial enclosed. 12.263. When therefore we were advising with our friends about it, the messengers sent by them represented to us that they are no way concerned with accusations which belong to the Jews, but choose to live after the customs of the Greeks. Accordingly, we declare them free from such accusations, and order that, agreeable to their petition, their temple be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius.” 12.264. He also sent the like epistle to Apollonius, the governor of that part of the country, in the forty-sixth year, and the eighteenth day of the month Hecatorabeom. 13.74. 4. Now it came to pass that the Alexandrian Jews, and those Samaritans who paid their worship to the temple that was built in the days of Alexander at Mount Gerizzim, did now make a sedition one against another, and disputed about their temples before Ptolemy himself; the Jews saying that, according to the laws of Moses, the temple was to be built at Jerusalem; and the Samaritans saying that it was to be built at Gerizzim. |
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