Septuagint: Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira and Odes - Scriptural Research Institute - Bog

The Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira was an independently translated early Jewish collection of wisdom proverbs translated in 132 BC, and added to the Septuagint. According to the prologue by the author, he claimed to be the grandson of Joshua ben Sira, who had moved to Egypt, and found that there were no books of minor wisdom among the Septuagint, and so translated his grandfather's collection. In later centuries, additional books were sometimes added as appendixes, including the Book of Odes. The book is mostly a collection of older songs and prayers found in the Septuagint, however, it was not made from the Septuagint's translations, but from Theodotion's translation of circa 200 AD. Theodotion's translation was not from the Aramaic texts, but the Hasmonean Dynasty's Hebrew translation, resulting in some textual differences between the songs in Odes and the versions of them in the older books of the Septuagint, especially in Exodus.There is a great deal of debate about who the translator and original author of the the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira were, and some Jewish scholars have suggested the book was not written in Jerusalem, but in Egypt. The debates regarding who these people were are largely based on the Hebrew translations of the book, which all appear to have been done after the Greek translation. Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira were in circulation during the Herodian Dynasty, and fragments have survived among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the 2QSir, 11QPsa, and MasSir scrolls, however, the fragments may not have been part of a book called the Wisdom of Joshua Ben Sira. The 2QSir and MasSir scrolls are so damaged that they are barely recognizable as being excerpts from Joshua ben Sira, and the 11QPsa scroll, while being one of the best-preserved scrolls found in the Qumran caves, includes random psalms and proverbs from multiple sources, including excerpts from Joshua ben Sira.