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From: Sirach 51:12cd-20
Thanksgiving Hymn (Continuation)
Poem in the Quest for Wisdom
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Commentary:
51:13-30. In Qumran’s cave no. 11 a substantial part of the Hebrew text of this
poem was discovered. It shows the epilogue poem originally to have been acros-
tic, that is, each of the verses begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, from
beginning to end, in order. The same happens at the very end of the book of Pro-
verbs, perhaps the most typical of the wisdom books: there we find the poem a-
bout the “perfect wife” (Prov 31:10-31), which is also acrostic. The poem in Si-
rach is a call to young men to set out without delay on the quest for wisdom.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.