Benjamin G. Wright III
see. The grammar of the next three verses in Greek indicates that Ben Sira is
referring to the law:^14
2slt (i.e. the law) fills wisdom like Phison
and like Tigris in days of new things.26lt supplies understanding like Euphrates
and like Jordan in days of harvest,nit shines forth education like light,
like Geon in days of vintage.The focus then returns to Woman Wisdom:
28The first man did not complete knowing her,
and so the last one did not track her out,29for her thought was filled from the sea,
and her counsel from the great abyss.Ben Sira continues the fluvial imagery of w. 28-29, but this time in a self-
reference:
3oAnd I, like a canal from a river
and a water channel, issued forth into an orchard.31I said, "I will water my garden,
and I will drench my flower bed."
And look! The canal turned into a river for me,
and my river turned into a sea.32Still I will again make education enlighten like dawn,
and I will shine them forth to far off.33Still I will again pour out teaching like prophecy,
and I will leave it behind for generations of eternity.34See that I have not toiled for myself alone
but for all who seek it (or, her) out.- No Hebrew survives for chap. 24. Translations from the Greek of Sirach are mine,
taken from A. Pietersma and B. G. Wright, eds., A New English Translation of the Septuagint
(New York: Oxford, forthcoming).