Ecclesiasticus 17: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter describes how the Lord made human beings out of the earth, gave them a set span of life, authority over other creatures, and the senses, mind, and speech to understand and describe his works. It then speaks of the law and covenant given to them, the warning against wrongdoing, and the Lord's constant sight of everything they do. The second half calls the hearer to turn back from sin while still alive, since the dead do not give thanks, and closes by setting the greatness of the Lord's mercy beside the limits of human life.

Claim by Claim

1. 17:1
   • The Lord created man out of earth.
   • The Lord turns man back into earth again.
2. 17:2
   • He gave them a limited number of days.
   • He gave them a short span of time.
   • He also gave them power over the things on the earth.
3. 17:3
   • He clothed them with strength proper to themselves.
   • He made them according to his own image.
4. 17:4
   • He put the fear of man upon all flesh.
   • He gave man dominion over beasts and birds.
5. 17:5
   • They received the use of the five faculties of the Lord.
   • In the sixth place he gave them understanding as a portion.
   • In the seventh he gave them speech.
   • Speech is an interpreter of the workings of those faculties.
6. 17:6
   • He gave them counsel.
   • He gave them a tongue.
   • He gave them eyes.
   • He gave them ears.
   • He gave them a heart for understanding.
7. 17:7
   • He filled them with the knowledge that is understanding.
   • He showed them good and evil.
8. 17:8
   • He set his eye upon their hearts.
   • His purpose was to show them the greatness of his works.
9. 17:9
   • He gave them cause to glory in his marvellous acts for ever.
   • His purpose was that they might recount his works with understanding.
10. 17:10
    • The elect will praise his holy name.
11. 17:11
    • In addition he gave them knowledge.
    • He gave them the law of life as an inheritance.
12. 17:12
    • He established an everlasting covenant with them.
    • He showed them his judgments.
13. 17:13
    • Their eyes saw the majesty of his glory.
    • Their ears heard his glorious voice.
14. 17:14
    • He said to them, Beware of all unrighteousness.
    • He gave every man commandment concerning his neighbour.
15. 17:15
    • Their ways are always before him.
    • Their ways will not be hidden from his eyes.
16. 17:16
    • Every man is given to evil from his youth.
    • They could not make their hearts of flesh instead of stone.
17. 17:17
    • In dividing the nations of the whole earth he appointed a ruler over every people.
    • Israel is the Lord's own portion.
18. 17:18
    • Israel is his firstborn.
    • He nourishes Israel with discipline.
    • He gives Israel the light of his love.
    • He does not forsake Israel.
19. 17:19
    • All their works are as clear as the sun before him.
    • His eyes are continually upon their ways.
20. 17:20
    • None of their unrighteous deeds are hidden from him.
    • All their sins are before the Lord.
21. 17:21
    • The Lord is gracious.
    • The Lord knows his own workmanship.
    • He did not leave them.
    • He did not forsake them.
    • He spared them.
22. 17:22
    • A man's alms is like a signet ring with him.
    • He will keep a man's good deeds like the apple of the eye.
    • He will grant repentance to his sons and daughters.
23. 17:23
    • Afterwards he will rise up and repay them.
    • He will render their recompence upon their heads.
24. 17:24
    • To those who repent he granted a way of return.
    • He comforted those who were failing in endurance.
25. 17:25
    • Return to the Lord.
    • Forsake your sins.
    • Make your prayer before his face.
    • Lessen your offence.
26. 17:26
    • Turn again to the Most High.
    • Turn away from iniquity.
    • He will lead you out of darkness into the light of health.
    • Hate abomination vehemently.
27. 17:27
    • No one in the grave can praise the Most High in place of the living who give thanks.
28. 17:28
    • Thanksgiving perishes from the dead, as from one who does not exist.
    • The living and sound in heart will praise the Lord.
29. 17:29
    • The lovingkindness of the Lord our God is great.
    • His compassion is great toward those who turn to him in holiness.
30. 17:30
    • All things cannot be present in men.
    • The son of man is not immortal.
31. 17:31
    • Nothing is brighter than the sun.
    • Even the sun's light fails.
    • Flesh and blood will devise evil.
32. 17:32
    • He inspects the host of the height of heaven.
    • All men are earth and ashes.

Words Worth Explaining

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

17:1

"Man" here is generic, meaning humankind rather than a male individual, which is why the very next verse switches to "them." The wording deliberately echoes the Genesis account in which the first human is formed from the ground and told he will return to it.

17:3

"Made them according to his image" picks up the language of Genesis 1, where humanity is made in God's image and likeness. Ben Sira, writing in Greek around 180 BC, is summarizing the opening chapters of Genesis throughout verses 1 to 14.

17:4

"All flesh" is a standard biblical phrase for every living creature, not for human beings only. The line reworks the words spoken to Noah in Genesis 9, that the fear of humans would be on every animal and bird.

17:5

The "five operations of the Lord" are the five senses. This whole verse is missing from the oldest Greek manuscripts of the book and is found only in an expanded later version, which is why some modern Bibles print the chapter without a verse 5 or mark it as an addition.

17:6

In this literature the heart is the seat of thought, judgment and decision rather than of feeling. Listing it alongside eyes, ears and tongue makes it one more organ of perception: the instrument a person understands with.

17:7

"Shewed them good and evil" echoes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis, but here the knowledge is listed among the gifts God hands over, not as something seized.

17:8

Setting his eye on their hearts means God sees what people think inside.

17:10

"The elect" simply means the chosen, God's chosen people, in this book normally Israel. The English word does not carry its modern sense of someone voted into office.

17:11

"The law of life" is the Law of Moses, the Torah. "For an heritage" means it is handed down as a family inheritance, property passed from one generation to the next rather than something earned.

17:12

A covenant is a formal binding agreement with set obligations on both sides, closer to a treaty or a contract than to a friendly understanding. "His judgments" are his legal rulings, the individual statutes of the Law.

17:13

This compresses the scene at Mount Sinai in Exodus, where the people see the fire and cloud on the mountain and hear the voice giving the commandments.

17:14

"Neighbour" in this idiom means whoever you are dealing with, the person beside you, not just someone living next door. The clause points to the commandments governing conduct between people, as distinct from those governing conduct toward God.

17:16

"Fleshy hearts for stony" means hearts made of flesh instead of hearts made of stone. A heart of stone is one that will not respond or be moved; a heart of flesh is soft, living and responsive. The image comes from Ezekiel, where God promises to make the exchange himself, which is the point here: people cannot do it for themselves. This verse too is absent from the oldest Greek manuscripts.

17:17

This draws on Deuteronomy 32, where the nations of the earth are parceled out, each with its own appointed ruler, while the Lord keeps Israel for himself. "Portion" is the word for an allotted share of land or property, the piece assigned to you when an inheritance is divided.

17:18

A firstborn son held a privileged legal position in the family, receiving a double share of the inheritance and a standing the other sons did not have. Calling Israel God's firstborn claims that status for the nation. This verse is also one of the passages found only in the longer Greek text.

17:22

A signet was a ring or stone carved with a personal mark, used to stamp wax and sign documents. It was both valuable and irreplaceable, so a person kept it on the hand or around the neck at all times. "The apple of the eye" is an old English name for the pupil, the part of the body a person guards most instinctively. "Alms" means money, food or goods given to the poor, a duty this book treats as one of the highest obligations.

17:23

"Render their recompence upon their heads" is a legal idiom for paying someone back in full and in person, settling the account directly on the one who earned it.

17:24

"Those that failed in patience" are those whose endurance gave out, people who had run out of the capacity to hold on any longer.

17:25

"Before his face" means in his presence, face to face, as one would approach a king. "Offend less" renders a Greek phrase that is hard to pin down; it can mean reduce your offenses, or make your stumbling less, and translators divide over which.

17:26

"The most High" is a title for God, used often in this book. "Abomination" translates a word for something detestable and revolting, applied above all to idols and idol worship.

17:27

"The grave" here is Sheol, the shadowy underworld where in older Israelite thought all the dead alike went down. The point of the question is that the dead in Sheol were understood to be cut off from the worship of the living, so praise has to be offered now.

17:28

Well in heart, or "sound in heart," means healthy and strong inside.

17:29

"Lovingkindness" is the King James rendering of the Hebrew word hesed, meaning steady, committed loyalty within a relationship. It is not a passing kindness but the faithfulness one party owes another by agreement.

17:30

"The son of man" is a Hebrew and Aramaic idiom meaning simply a human being, a member of the human race. The phrase carries no special title here.

17:31

"Flesh and blood" is another idiom for a human being, used when the speaker wants to stress human frailty and mortality.

17:32

"The power of the height of heaven" most likely means the armies or hosts of heaven, the sun, moon and stars or the heavenly beings; the Greek is compressed and could be read either way. "Earth and ashes" is a set phrase for human lowliness, used by Abraham in Genesis 18 when he calls himself dust and ashes.