Ecclesiasticus

Ecclesiasticus is the name given in the Latin Vulgate tradition to the deuterocanonical book more fully titled The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, or simply Ben Sira. It is one of the longest and most substantial of the deuterocanonical books, included in the Septuagint and in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canons but excluded from the Protestant and Jewish biblical canons (where it is classified as Apocrypha). The book was written in Hebrew by a Jerusalem scribe named Joshua (Jesus) ben Eleazar ben Sira around 180 BC, and translated into Greek by his grandson around 132 BC, with the grandson's preface surviving as an introduction to the Greek text.

Ecclesiasticus is a wisdom book in the tradition of Proverbs, covering practical ethics, social conduct, prayer, the praise of famous ancestors of Israel (chapters 44–50, the famous Let us now praise famous men), and theological reflection on wisdom as the Law of Moses. The Hebrew text was partially lost and partially recovered in the Cairo Geniza (1896–1900) and at Masada (1964). The name Ecclesiasticus — meaning the church book — reflects its widespread use in early Christian catechesis and liturgy.