Ecclesiasticus : Edited with a Textual Commentary and Prolegomena

First published in 1909, this is a study of Ecclesiasticus, the ancient Greek translation of Jesus ben Sirach's religious work, originally written in Hebrew. J. H. A. Hart (1876–1952) explores the relationship of a version of the text in a fourteenth-century codex to its ancient Hebrew origins.

Ecclesiasticus is a religious work, written in Hebrew in the second century BCE by the Jewish scribe Jesus ben Sirach. Although it was not accepted into the Hebrew Bible and the original version is lost, its Greek translation is found in the Septuagint. The focus of this study by Cambridge scholar J. H. A. Hart (1876–1952) is on the Greek text of Ecclesiasticus from a fourteenth-century codex, written in a miniscule cursive hand. First published in 1909, the book contains the text in transcription, based on the work of Charles Taylor, who had previously published a study of the text. Hart next investigates its relationship to surviving fragments of the Hebrew version, and the results of his research are included in his textual commentary. He provides a thorough analysis of the Greek translator's prologue and compares variant Greek versions of the work. Hart's edition remains of use to biblical scholars today.