Font Size
Wisdom of Ben Sira 44:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Wisdom of Ben Sira 44:1-2
New Catholic Bible
The Heroes of Sacred History[a]
Chapter 44
Let Us Praise Illustrious Men[b]
1 Let us now praise illustrious men,
our ancestors in their successive generations.
2 The Most High apportioned to them an abundance of glory
and displayed his greatness from of old.
Footnotes
- Wisdom of Ben Sira 44:1 The work of divine wisdom in the universe is admirable, and even more so is God’s initiative in the history of human beings, of the sublime figures chosen to lead the destiny of the holy people. An unconditional admirer of the cult where God is present, he is especially interested in priests and devotes himself to evoking the different covenants concluded between God and his people in the course of history; by contrast, he judges with severity the faults of kings. If he celebrates the glories of the past, it is first of all to condemn the laxity of his contemporaries and to inspire fidelity.
For similar historical surveys, see Neh 9:6-37; Jud 5:5-21; 1 Mac 2:51-64; Pss 78; 105; 135; 136; Wis 10:1—12:27; Ezek 20:4-44; Acts 7:2-53; Heb 11:2-39; Jas 5:10-11. - Wisdom of Ben Sira 44:1 Kings, sages, prophets, and chanters—whether celebrated or ignored, men of God abound in Israel. They are too numerous for one to evoke the remembrance of every one. Some of them found a family among the people, and their remembrance remains alive and exciting.
