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Ecclesiasticus 11: What the Passage Says

86 claims across 34 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Ecclesiasticus 11 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter is a run of sayings about how to weigh people and how to work. It warns against judging by looks, against answering before hearing a case, and against meddling in many affairs; it says that low and high standing, poverty and riches, life and death all come from the Lord. It contrasts the hard worker who falls behind with the weak man the Lord raises up, and the man who grows rich by pinching and says he has found rest without knowing what time is coming on him. It closes with warnings about whom to let into your house.

Claim by Claim

  1. 11:1
    • Wisdom raises up the head of a person of low standing
    • Wisdom seats the lowly person among great men
  2. 11:2
    • A person is not to be praised for his good looks
    • A person is not to be despised for his outward appearance
  3. 11:3
    • The bee is small among flying creatures
    • The bee's produce is the foremost of sweet things
  4. 11:4
    • A person is not to boast about the clothing he wears
    • A person is not to exalt himself on the day he is honored
    • The works of the Lord are wonderful
    • The Lord's works are hidden from human beings
  5. 11:5
    • Many rulers have sat down on the ground
    • One who was never considered has worn the crown
  6. 11:6
    • Many powerful men have been utterly dishonored
    • Honored men have been handed over into the power of others
  7. 11:7
    • A person is not to find fault before he has examined the truth
    • A person is to understand first and rebuke afterward
  8. 11:8
    • A person is not to answer before he has heard the matter
    • A person is not to interrupt in the middle of others' speech
  9. 11:9
    • A person is not to quarrel over a matter that does not concern him
    • A person is not to sit in judgment together with sinners
  10. 11:10
    • The speaker addresses his hearer as 'my son'
    • A person is not to occupy himself with many affairs
    • If a person occupies himself with much, he will not go unpunished
    • If a person pursues, he will not overtake
    • A person will not escape by fleeing
  11. 11:11
    • There is a person who labors and toils and hurries
    • That person ends up all the more behind
  12. 11:12
    • There is another who is slow and in need of help
    • That person lacks ability and is full of poverty
    • The eye of the Lord looked on that person for good
    • The Lord raised him up from his low condition
  13. 11:13
    • The Lord lifted up his head from misery
    • Many were astonished at him
    • Peace from him is over all
  14. 11:14
    • Prosperity and adversity come from the Lord
    • Life and death come from the Lord
    • Poverty and riches come from the Lord
  15. 11:15
    • Wisdom is from the Lord
    • Knowledge is from the Lord
    • Understanding of the law is from the Lord
    • Love is from the Lord
    • The way of good works is from the Lord
  16. 11:16
    • Error and darkness began together with sinners
    • Evil will grow old with those who take pride in it
  17. 11:17
    • The gift of the Lord remains with the godly
    • The Lord's favor brings prosperity forever
  18. 11:18
    • There is a person who grows rich by his caution and stinginess
    • That wealth is the portion of his reward
  19. 11:19
    • The rich man says he has found rest
    • The rich man says he will now eat continually from his goods
    • The rich man does not know what time will come upon him
    • The rich man must leave those things to others and die
  20. 11:20
    • A person is to stand firm in his covenant
    • A person is to be occupied in his covenant
    • A person is to grow old in his work
  21. 11:21
    • A person is not to marvel at the works of sinners
    • A person is to trust in the Lord
    • A person is to remain in his labor
    • It is easy in the sight of the Lord to make a poor man rich suddenly
  22. 11:22
    • The blessing of the Lord is in the reward of the godly
    • The Lord makes his blessing flourish suddenly
  23. 11:23
    • A person is not to say, What profit is there in my service?
    • A person is not to say, What good things will I have from now on?
  24. 11:24
    • A person is not to say, I have enough and possess many things
    • A person is not to say, What evil will I have from now on?
  25. 11:25
    • In the day of prosperity affliction is forgotten
    • In the day of affliction prosperity is no longer remembered
  26. 11:26
    • It is easy for the Lord in the day of death to repay a man according to his ways
  27. 11:27
    • An hour's affliction makes a man forget pleasure
    • At a man's end his deeds are uncovered
  28. 11:28
    • No one is to be called blessed before his death
    • A man will be known in his children
  29. 11:29
    • A person is not to bring every man into his house
    • The deceitful man has many devices
  30. 11:30
    • The heart of the proud is like a captured partridge kept in a cage
    • He watches for your fall like a spy
  31. 11:31
    • He lies in wait
    • He turns good into evil
    • He will fasten blame on you in matters worthy of praise
  32. 11:32
    • A heap of coals is kindled from a spark of fire
    • A sinful man lies in wait for blood
  33. 11:33
    • A person is to beware of a mischievous man
    • The mischievous man works wickedness
    • The mischievous man may bring a permanent stain upon you
  34. 11:34
    • If you receive a stranger into your house, he will disturb you
    • The stranger will turn you out of your own house

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

11:1
Lifting up the head is an old Hebrew idiom for restoring someone's standing after disgrace; a bowed head meant shame or defeat. Where a person sat also displayed rank, so a seat among great men was public recognition, not merely a chair.
11:3
The bee's "fruit" is honey. Before sugar reached the Mediterranean world, honey was the main sweetener available, so calling it the chief of sweet things is a plain statement about the ancient table.
11:4
Fine clothes were rare and cost a lot. Wearing them showed everyone that you were rich.
11:5
Kings sat on thrones; sitting on the bare ground was what mourners, captives and the ruined did. The image is of a ruler stripped of his place, paired with an unknown man who ends up crowned.
11:6
Being handed over means enemies took them away. They became prisoners or slaves.
11:9
Sitting in judgment is literal. Cases were heard by a panel of elders, often at the city gate, and to sit with them was to serve as one of the judges. The warning is against taking that seat alongside dishonest men.
11:10
In 1611 "meddle" meant simply to occupy yourself with something, without the modern sense of prying into other people's business. The Greek suggests taking on too many trades, ventures or public affairs at once.
11:12
"The eye of the Lord looked on him" means God noticed him. It is a way of saying God saw and cared.
11:13
The King James text of this verse has broken down as printed: "so that many that saw from him is peace over all the" is not a sentence, and words have been lost. The Greek reads that many who saw him were astonished, which is what the rendering follows.
11:15
"The law" means the Law of Moses, the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures, taken as the whole body of instruction Israel lived by. Verses 15 and 16 are absent from some of the oldest Greek manuscripts of this book, and many modern editions bracket them or leave them out.
11:16
A sinner is a person who keeps choosing to do wrong.
11:17
The King James prints "the ungodly" here, which cuts against the rest of the sentence and looks like a slip. The Greek reads "the godly," those who honor God, which is what the rendering has.
11:18
"Wariness" is watchful caution; "pinching" in 1611 meant stinting and scraping, being tight with money. Together they describe a man who grows rich by hoarding and denying himself.
11:20
"Covenant" translates a Greek word that can mean the covenant between God and Israel with the law it carried, or a person's own binding agreement and appointed station in life. The text does not settle which, and the rendering leaves it open. "Be conversant therein" has nothing to do with talking: in 1611 "conversant" meant to live and move among something, to spend your time in it.
11:23
Service means serving God: keeping his commands and doing what is right, day after day.
11:27
"Discovered" in 1611 meant uncovered or brought into the open, not found for the first time. The line says a man's deeds are laid bare at his death.
11:28
To call someone "blessed" here is to call him fortunate or enviable, not holy. The saying was a commonplace in the Greek world, put famously by Solon in Herodotus: count no one happy until he is dead, because fortune can still turn. The second half adds that a man's measure goes on showing in his children after him.
11:29
"Trains" is an old word for tricks, lures and stratagems, related to the idea of drawing an animal into a trap. It has nothing to do with railways.
11:30
Hunters kept a captured partridge in a cage as a decoy, its calls drawing wild birds within reach of the net. That is the force of the comparison: the proud man's heart is a lure set for others, not just a bird shut in.
11:32
"To spill blood" means to hurt or kill someone.
11:33
"Mischievous" in 1611 meant actively wicked and set on doing harm, far stronger than the modern sense of playful naughtiness. A "blot" is a permanent stain on a person's reputation, a disgrace that cannot be scrubbed off.
11:34
"Stranger" here means an outsider to the household, someone with no claim on you, rather than a traveler in need. The warning pushes against the strong ancient duty of hospitality, and some Greek manuscripts add that such a man will set you at odds with your own family.

Read Ecclesiasticus 11