Ecclesiasticus 44: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter begins a long section of praise for the ancestors. It calls for praise of famous men and lists the kinds of people the Lord worked through: rulers, advisers, prophets, leaders, teachers, musicians, writers, and rich men living quietly at home. It then sets those who left a name behind against those who have no memorial, and says that the descendants, inheritance and name of the merciful endure. The last verses turn to named individuals: Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose portions were divided among the twelve tribes.

Claim by Claim

1. 44:1
   • The speaker calls for praise of famous men.
   • The speaker calls for praise of the fathers who begat us.
2. 44:2
   • The Lord wrought great glory by them.
   • He did this through his great power.
   • He did this from the beginning.
3. 44:3
   • Among them were those who bore rule in their kingdoms.
   • Among them were men renowned for their power.
   • Among them were men who gave counsel by their understanding.
   • Among them were men who declared prophecies.
4. 44:4
   • Among them were leaders of the people by their counsels.
   • Among them were men whose knowledge of learning was fit for the people.
   • Their instructions were wise.
   • Their instructions were eloquent.
5. 44:5
   • Among them were those who found out musical tunes.
   • Among them were those who recited verses in writing.
6. 44:6
   • Among them were rich men furnished with ability.
   • They lived peaceably in their habitations.
7. 44:7
   • All these were honoured in their generations.
   • All these were the glory of their times.
8. 44:8
   • Some of them have left a name behind them.
   • They left a name so that their praises might be reported.
9. 44:9
   • Some of them have no memorial.
   • They have perished as though they had never been.
   • They have become as though they had never been born.
   • Their children after them have likewise become as though they had never been.
10. 44:10
    • But these were merciful men.
    • Their righteousness has not been forgotten.
11. 44:11
    • A good inheritance shall continually remain with their seed.
    • Their children are within the covenant.
12. 44:12
    • Their seed stands fast.
    • Their children stand fast for their sakes.
13. 44:13
    • Their seed shall remain for ever.
    • Their glory shall not be blotted out.
14. 44:14
    • Their bodies are buried in peace.
    • Their name lives for evermore.
15. 44:15
    • The people will tell of their wisdom.
    • The congregation will show forth their praise.
16. 44:16
    • Enoch pleased the Lord.
    • Enoch was translated.
    • Enoch is an example of repentance to all generations.
17. 44:17
    • Noah was found perfect and righteous.
    • In the time of wrath Noah was taken in exchange for the world.
    • Therefore Noah was left as a remnant to the earth when the flood came.
18. 44:18
    • An everlasting covenant was made with Noah.
    • The covenant was that all flesh should never again perish by a flood.
19. 44:19
    • Abraham was a great father of many people.
    • No one was like him in glory.
20. 44:20
    • Abraham kept the law of the Most High.
    • Abraham was in covenant with the Most High.
    • Abraham established the covenant in his flesh.
    • When Abraham was tested he was found faithful.
21. 44:21
    • Therefore the Lord assured Abraham by an oath.
    • The Lord swore that he would bless the nations in Abraham's seed.
    • The Lord swore that he would multiply Abraham as the dust of the earth.
    • The Lord swore that he would exalt Abraham's seed as the stars.
    • The Lord swore that he would cause them to inherit from sea to sea.
    • The Lord swore that he would cause them to inherit from the river to the utmost part of the land.
22. 44:22
    • The Lord likewise established with Isaac the blessing of all men and the covenant.
    • He did this for the sake of Abraham his father.
    • The Lord made the blessing and the covenant rest upon the head of Jacob.
    • The Lord acknowledged Jacob in his blessing.
    • The Lord gave Jacob an heritage.
    • The Lord divided Jacob's portions.
    • The Lord parted them among the twelve tribes.

Words Worth Explaining

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

44:1

This verse opens a long set piece running to the end of chapter 50, a roll call of Israel's ancestors taken in the order they appear in scripture. "Famous men" renders a Greek phrase meaning men of renown or glory; the surviving Hebrew of this book reads instead "men of faithful love," which matches the "merciful men" of verse 10. "Our fathers that begat us" means simply our ancestors, the generations we descend from.

44:2

Glory means great honor. It is honor so bright that people notice it.

44:3

"Declaring prophecies" means speaking as prophets: delivering messages understood to come from God. In Israel that role was as much public warning and blunt advice to kings as it was prediction.

44:4

"Meet" in 1611 English means fitting or suitable. "Knowledge of learning meet for the people" is learning suited to what the people needed, not learning that meets them.

44:5

The Greek behind "recited verses in writing" covers composing poetry and setting down written accounts. The verse is pointing at two crafts: those who made the tunes and those who supplied the words.

44:6

"Furnished with ability" uses "ability" in its older sense of means and resources, so the phrase describes men well supplied with wealth. "Habitations" are dwelling places, homes.

44:8

Leaving a name behind is a picture. It means people still remember you and tell your story.

44:9

"Memorial" here is not a monument. It means anything at all that keeps a memory alive: a record, a remembered name, descendants who carry it.

44:10

"Merciful men" translates a Greek word covering acts of mercy and loyal kindness toward others. "Righteousness" in this book takes in right conduct toward other people, generosity included, not only right standing before God.

44:11

"Seed" is the King James word for offspring or descendants, and it is used that way throughout this chapter. A covenant is a binding agreement carrying sworn obligations; in Israel's scriptures the word names the formal arrangements made between God and Noah, Abraham, and the nation at Sinai.

44:14

"Buried in peace" points to the honor of a proper burial in one's own place among one's own people, which ancient readers counted as the mark of a life brought to a settled end, as opposed to dying unburied or far from home.

44:15

"The congregation" is the assembled community of Israel, the people gathered as a single body, often for worship. "Shew forth" is simply show forth, declare in public.

44:16

Genesis 5:24 says that Enoch "walked with God: and he was not; for God took him," which was widely read to mean he never died. "Translated" is the King James word for that carrying across, being taken from earth directly. This verse is missing from some Greek manuscripts and from the surviving Hebrew of the book; Enoch is named again at 49:14.

44:17

"Taken in exchange for the world" renders a Greek word meaning a ransom or a substitute handed over in place of something else: Noah was what was accepted instead of the whole human race. "A remnant" is the standard term for the small part of a people left alive after a disaster.

44:18

"All flesh" is a Hebrew idiom carried through Greek into English meaning every living creature, animals as well as people. The covenant referred to is the one in Genesis 9, with the rainbow as its sign.

44:19

"A great father of many people" echoes Genesis 17:5, where the name Abraham is explained as "father of many nations."

44:20

"He established the covenant in his flesh" means circumcision, the cutting away of the male foreskin, which Genesis 17 makes the bodily sign of the agreement between God and Abraham's line. "When he was proved" means when he was put to the test, pointing to Genesis 22, where Abraham is told to sacrifice Isaac.

44:21

The promises gathered into this one sentence come from Genesis 12, 13, 15 and 22. "The river" with no name attached is the Euphrates, the standard marker for the far edge of the promised territory, and "from sea to sea" is the wording of Psalm 72:8. "Seed" again means descendants.

44:22

"He acknowledged him in his blessing" means the blessing given to Abraham and Isaac was confirmed to Jacob in turn; see Genesis 27 and 28. The "portions" divided among the twelve tribes are the allotted shares of land, one for each tribe descended from Jacob's sons. Most modern editions split this material into two verses, 22 and 23, so numbering in this chapter can run one behind other Bibles. The sentence breaks off unfinished, and chapter 45 carries straight on to Moses.