Ecclesiasticus 35: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter says that keeping the law and turning away from wrongdoing count as offerings, and it tells the reader to give to the Lord generously, gladly, and in keeping with what he has given. It warns against trying to win God over with gifts or with a sacrifice that is not righteous, since he is judge and shows no favoritism, and it says he hears the poor, the fatherless, and the widow. It then says the Lord will not hold back until he has repaid the unmerciful, the nations, and the proud, and has judged the cause of his people. It closes by comparing mercy in a time of trouble to rain clouds in a drought.

Claim by Claim

1. 35:1
   • Whoever keeps the law multiplies offerings.
   • Whoever attends to the commandment offers a peace offering.
2. 35:2
   • Whoever repays a kindness offers fine flour.
   • Whoever gives alms offers a sacrifice of praise.
3. 35:3
   • Turning away from wickedness is pleasing to the Lord.
   • Forsaking unrighteousness is an act of atonement.
4. 35:4
   • You are not to appear before the Lord empty-handed.
5. 35:5
   • All these things are to be done because the commandment requires them.
6. 35:6
   • The offering of a righteous person makes the altar rich.
   • The pleasing smell of that offering rises before the Most High.
7. 35:7
   • The sacrifice of a righteous man is acceptable.
   • The memorial of that sacrifice will never be forgotten.
8. 35:8
   • Honour the Lord generously.
   • Do not reduce the firstfruits of your hands.
9. 35:9
   • In every gift show a cheerful face.
   • Dedicate your tithes with gladness.
10. 35:10
    • Give to the Most High in proportion to what he has given you.
    • Give generously according to what your hand has obtained.
11. 35:11
    • The Lord repays.
    • The Lord will repay you sevenfold.
12. 35:12
    • Do not plan to bribe the Lord with gifts.
    • The Lord will not accept such gifts.
    • Do not rely on an unrighteous sacrifice.
    • The Lord is judge.
    • With the Lord there is no partiality toward persons.
13. 35:13
    • The Lord will not show partiality to anyone against a poor man.
    • The Lord will hear the prayer of the person who has been wronged.
14. 35:14
    • The Lord will not despise the plea of the fatherless.
    • The Lord will not despise the widow when she pours out her complaint.
15. 35:15
    • The widow's tears run down her cheek.
    • Her cry is against the one who caused her tears to fall.
16. 35:16
    • Whoever serves the Lord will be accepted with favour.
    • That person's prayer will reach up to the clouds.
17. 35:17
    • The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds.
    • Until his prayer comes near, the humble man is not comforted.
    • He will not leave off until the Most High looks upon the matter.
    • He will not leave off until the Most High judges righteously and carries out judgment.
18. 35:18
    • The Lord will not delay.
    • The Mighty One will not be patient toward them.
    • He will crush the loins of the merciless.
    • He will repay vengeance on the nations.
    • He will destroy the multitude of the arrogant.
    • He will break the sceptre of the unrighteous.
19. 35:19
    • He will repay every man according to his deeds.
    • He will repay men's works according to their intentions.
    • He will judge the case of his people.
    • He will make his people rejoice in his mercy.
20. 35:20
    • Mercy is welcome at the time of affliction.
    • Mercy at such a time is like rain clouds in a time of drought.

Words Worth Explaining

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

35:1

A peace offering was a sacrifice in which only part of the animal was burned on the altar; the rest was eaten in a shared meal by the worshiper, his household and the priests. It belonged to gratitude and celebration rather than to guilt, and was the ordinary offering brought by someone with nothing to confess.

35:2

Fine flour was the material of the grain offering, the gift brought by someone offering produce instead of an animal: a handful was burned on the altar and the rest went to the priests. A "sacrifice of praise," or thank offering, was a peace offering brought specifically to acknowledge a kindness received. Both are named here as the exact ritual equivalents of the two everyday acts.

35:3

The King James "propitiation" is a 1611 word for a sacrifice that turns away anger and covers over sin, that is, the sin offering or atonement sacrifice prescribed in the law.

35:4

This quotes the law on the three pilgrim festivals, "none shall appear before me empty" (Exodus 23:15, Deuteronomy 16:16). To "appear before the Lord" meant to present yourself at the sanctuary at one of those festivals, and no one was to arrive without a gift in hand.

35:6

The fat of a sacrificial animal was burned on the altar as God's portion, so "maketh the altar fat" pictures an altar well supplied with offerings. "Sweet savour" is the standard King James phrase for the smoke of a sacrifice rising as a pleasing smell, the conventional way of saying an offering was accepted.

35:7

"Memorial" is a technical term from the law of the grain offering: the handful burned on the altar was called the memorial portion, the part that brought the giver to mind before God. Here the word is used more loosely, of the sacrifice being kept in mind.

35:8

"With a good eye" is an idiom, not a description of a facial expression. In Hebrew and Aramaic a person with a "good eye" is openhanded and one with an "evil eye" is grudging and tight. The firstfruits were the first and best of a harvest, flock or workshop, owed to God before the rest could be used; "diminish not" warns against quietly trimming that portion down.

35:9

A tithe was a tenth of crops, herds and earnings set apart for the sanctuary and the priests, and in some years for the poor. It was a required payment, which is why the advice here is about the spirit in which it is handed over rather than about whether to hand it over.

35:10

The King James "as thou hast gotten" renders an idiom that runs literally "as thy hand hath found," meaning out of whatever has come your way.

35:11

Sevenfold is a conventional figure in this literature for full and more than full repayment. It is not an exact rate of return.

35:12

The first half is about bribing a judge, which the law forbade. "No respect of persons" is a King James phrase meaning that God does not decide a case according to who the person is, his rank, wealth or connections. To "respect persons" in this older English is to show partiality, not to hold someone in esteem.

35:13

"Accept any person against a poor man" is courtroom language. To "accept the person" of someone is to find in his favor because of who he is rather than because of the merits of the case.

35:14

In this society a household's legal standing ran through its adult male head, so an orphan or a widow had no one to press a claim in court and no protection against a creditor or a neighbor seizing land. The two words together are a standard shorthand for the people most easily cheated with no consequence.

35:15

The widow's "cry" is not only weeping. The word carries the sense of a formal outcry against a wrong, the shout of someone demanding a hearing, which is why it is described as being "against" the person responsible.

35:17

The Greek here is ambiguous, and translators divide over it. "He will not be comforted" and "will not depart" may describe the humble person, who keeps praying and refuses to be consoled until God acts, or the prayer itself, which does not rest until it arrives. The rendering leaves the ambiguity standing rather than picking one.

35:18

The "loins" in the King James are the lower back and hips, understood as the seat of physical strength; to break someone's loins is to leave him unable to stand up. "Heathen" translates a word meaning simply the nations, the peoples outside Israel, without the modern flavor of savagery. A "sceptre" was the ornamented rod a ruler carried as the visible sign of his authority, so breaking it is a picture of ending a regime, not of damaging an object.

35:20

"Seasonable" in 1611 English means timely, coming at the right season. The comparison depends on the local climate: rain fell in the winter months and the summer was reliably dry, so clouds gathering during a drought were the sight everyone was waiting for and had stopped expecting.