The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Vol.73, No.4/October 2011

Is Eve the "Woman" in Sirach 25:24?

TERESA ANN ELLIS

1OOO Fourth Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95818

"FROM A WOMAN sin had its beginning, and because of her we all die," accord­
ing to the deuterocanonical book Sirach (άπο γυναικός αρχή αμαρτίας, καΐ δι'
αυτήν άποθνήσκομεν πάντες [25:24]).* The unnamed female in this verse is iden­
tified, almost universally, as the biblical character Eve.2 This identification, how­
ever, does not accord with the Hebrew vocabulary of Sirach's source, the Book of
Ben Sira (BBS): ίΓΓ UJm nVttm fltf Π^ΠΠ TON» (BBS MS C). 3 In this study, I
demonstrate that the Hebrew vocabulary cannot allude to the MT character Eve,
although the Greek vocabulary can allude to that character in the LXX. A further
step—if Eve is disqualified—is to suggest a literary figure who does match the

I wish to thank Carolyn Osiek, R.S.C.J., for her encouragement of this project from its begin­
ning, and the anonymous reviewers at CBQ for their suggestions.
1
This translation is from the NRSV. Greek passages in Sirach are from The Parallel Apoc­
rypha (ed. John R. Kohlenberger III; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). Translations from
Greek, unless otherwise noted, are my own.
2
The early history of the link between Eve and Sir 25:24 is associated with St. Augustine of
Hippo (354-430 C.E.), who uses the Latin version of Sir 25:24 as a proof-text for the doctrine of
original sin. See Against Julian (Contra Julianum) (trans. Matthew A. Schumacher; FC 35; Wash­
ington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1974) esp. 389. John R. Levison ("Is Eve to
Blame? A Contextual Analysis of Sirach 25:24," CBQ Al [1985] 617-23, here 617) notes that "inter­
preters agree with amazing unanimity that in Sir 25:24 Ben Sira attributes the origin of sin and death
to Eve" and gives examples from modern scholarship (ibid., n. 1). Levison proposes that the female
figure is not Eve but the "evil wife" who is the subject of the passage.
3
The primary source for Hebrew passagesfromthe Book of Ben Sira (BBS) is Pancratius C.
Beentjes, The Book of Ben Sira in Hebrew: A Text Edition of All Extant Hebrew Manuscripts and a
Synopsis of All Parallel Hebrew Ben Sira Texts (VTSup 68; Leiden: Brill, 1997). All translations
from Hebrew are my own.

723
 724 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73,2011

parameters of BBS 25:24. For this role, I propose Hesiod's Pandora as the model
for the "woman/wife."
Verses in the Greek version of Ben Sira often differ significantlyfromtheir
Hebrew counterparts. Yet even when the two versions differ, as do those for
BBS/Sir 25:24, the verses are often treated as interchangeable units.4 To forestall
any conflation of the two textual traditions, I treat the Hebrew manuscripts of Ben
Sira as an independent text group whose relation to the MT is analogous to the
relationship between Sirach and the LXX.5 The Hebrew and Greek versions have
different designations—the label Book of Ben Sira (or its shortened form BBS)
refers only to the Hebrew text group, and Sirach (Sir), only to the Greek.6

I. Schematic Figures in the Book of Ben Sira

Book of Ben Sira 25:24 is part of a passage about wives (25:13-26:3) that
contrasts the effects of a "bad/evil wife" on her husband with those of a "good
wife." Although the Hebrew and Greek words for "wife" also mean "woman," in
this context the fundamental identity of the female mentioned in 25:24 is wife—
the "bad wife," in this case.7 Any named, iconic female characterfromoutside the
Book of Ben Sira that we may associate with thefigurein BBS/Sir 25:24 is not
thefigure'sprimary identification; rather, it exists in conjunction with the primary
role, "Bad Wife." For example, thefigurein Sir 25:24 would not be Eve, but would
be Eve as the epitome of the "Bad Wife."

4
Renate Egger-Wenzel ("The Change of the Sacrifice Terminology from Hebrew into Greek
in the Book of Ben Sira: Did the Grandson Understand His Grandfather's Text Correctly?" BN 140
[2009] 69-93, here 90) closes an article on terminology from the Book of Ben Sira that changes in
Sirach by stating her expectation that such studies would be "the starting point to think about separate
translations of the Hebrew and the Greek text of Ben Sira and about separate commentaries. All
standard translations offer mixed texts." Leo G. Perdue (The Sword and the Stylus: An Introduction
to Wisdom in the Age of Empires [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008] 271) states that the Greek Sirach
"is to be consulted only when there are lacunae in the Hebrew manuscripts, and then it is necessary
to keep in mind the particular linguistic and thematic considerations of this Hellenistic tradition."
5
An individual called Ben Sira (XT0 p ) wrote the Book of Ben Sira about 190-180 B.C.E. in
Hebrew. The Greek translation, Sirach, was made about sixty years later. There are eight extant
Hebrew manuscripts for the Book of Ben Sira, but 25:24 is extant only in MS C, an anthology that
may date to the ninth century. For the provenance of the Hebrew manuscripts, see Beentjes, Book
of Ben Sira in Hebrew, 1-19; and Patrick W. Skehan and Alexander A. Di Leila, The Wisdom of Ben
Sira: A New Translation with Notes (AB 39; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1987) 51-54. We now
have, in Hebrew, about two-thirds of the material in the Greek text of Sirach.
6
The term NT0 p Ί00, "the book of Ben Sira," is used in the Babylonian Talmud (b. Sanh.
100b). Beentjes designates the text "the Book of Ben Sira" in the titles of many of his works, as do
other scholars, including Ibolya Baila, Nuria Calduch-Benages, Haim Dihi, Renate Egger-Wenzel,
Maurice Gilbert, Jenny R. Labendz, Jan Liesen, Johannes Marböck, Leo G. Perdue, Stefan C. Reif,
Friedrich V. Reiterer, Anssi Voltila, Benjamin G. Wright III, and Géza G. Xeravits.
7
For each instance of HWN in BBS 25:8-26:3 it is appropriate to translate nttftf as "wife,"
though 25:21 refers to a man planning to marry "a woman" for her beauty or wealth.
 IS EVE THE "WOMAN" IN SIRACH 25:24? 725

The labels used for the wives in BBS 25:13-26:3 are mil) ΓΠΡΝ ("good wife")
and ΓΙ5Γ) ΠΦΝ ("bad/evil wife"). These labels, which delimit the semantic back­
ground for BBS 25:24, must be put in context before I continue the discussion of
Eve as the "Bad Wife." In the Book of Ben Sira, the "Good Wife" and the
"Bad/Evil Wife" are two figures in a schematic group of four human chracters that
includes also two male roles, the "Sage" and the "Fool," which replicate the
good/bad binary relationship of the female roles.8 The "Sage," as the central figure
in the whole text, is also the center point of the schema. All three of the other
schematic figures relate only to him—they do not relate to each other. The "Fool,"
the "Good Wife," and the "Bad/Evil Wife" qualify as schematic figures because
each is the subject of at least one sustained, unilateral commentary, the effect of
which is to constitute a persona that is stylized and monolithic.9 The alternative
titles "Right Wife" and "Wrong Wife" would reflect Ben Sira's view of appropriate
partners. The basic principle is that likes should associate—for his friends, the
Sage should choose other sagelike men and avoid Fools, and for his spouse, the
Sage should choose a woman who shares his qualities (intelligent, God-fearing,
and careful in the use of speech) and he should avoid marrying a woman who has
the opposite qualities. The Bad Wife and the Fool, however, could be appropriate
marriage partners because they have similar qualities—both are boisterous, talka­
tive, and so on.
Although "Sage" and "Fool" are acceptable translations for the two male fig­
ures, a literal translation of the females as "Good Wife" and "Evil Wife" would be
misleading. In the Book of Ben Sira the overdetermined words 3113 ("good") and
5Π ("evil") lack the heavy overtones that they carry from their Hebrew-literature
debut in Genesis. It is necessary, therefore, to establish ranges of meaning for Ü1Ü
and SH in the Book of Ben Sira and to translate the labels accordingly.
For readers of the Hebrew Bible, the combined presence of the words "good"
and "evil"—especially when used with reference to a woman—may evoke a
generic association between the stories of Genesis 1-3 and the motifs oí good and
evil. In the first three chapters of Genesis, however, there is no separate mention
of "evil." The early chapters of Genesis begin with "good" (chap. 1), move to a
dual condition of "good-and-evil" (chaps. 2-3), and speak of "evil" only thereafter
(chaps. 6; 8). The category of good includes a wide range of objects.10 One bound-
ary of the category of evil, however, is defined by the absence of the word: dis-
obeying God's explicit command by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge

8
The use of initial capitals for the figures' labels distinguishes these common words—in
these instances only—as markers for a set of roles that are related in specific ways.
9
The schematic interlude for the "Fool" is Sir 21:14-22:18; for the "Bad Wife" and the
"Good Wife" it is adjacent sections of BBS 25:13-26:3, the major site where the schema orchestrates
gendered discourse. Most of the gendered discourse in the Book of Ben Sira, however, is not con-
ducted in terms of the four schematic human figures.
10
An exception is the solitary status of the human, which is "not good" (Gen 2:18).
 726 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73,2011

of good and evil is not pronounced "evil" (Genesis 3), and even Cain's killing of
Abel is not said to be "evil" (Genesis 4). The first denunciation of "evil" occurs in
6:5, as the label for the (unnamed) activities that will cause God to send the flood,
and the denunciation is repeated after the flood in 8:21. Thus, an enormous seman­
tic burden is attached to the category of evil because its minimum, its threshold
condition, would be deeds worse than manslaughter. Based on this reading of the
vocabulary of the early chapters of Genesis, or on the readerly impression of evil
as a major motif in those passages, a translation of Ben Sira's Γϋ7Ί nWN as "the evil
wife" conjures expectations of extreme and lurid behavior by that figure.
In contrast to the semantically fraught condition of evil in Genesis, in the
Book of Ben Sira both mü and 5Π have rather mundane connotations. The extremes
of both goodness and evil receive other labels. For example, Ben Sira's highest
praise is for "one who fears God": "[Chief], ruler, and judge will be honored—but
none is greater than one-who-fears God" (BBS 10:24, MSS A, [B]). In the Book of
Ben Sira, 3Π does not include physical violence, whose practitioners have a number
of labels, such as W ("fierce"), XTW ("a hater"), and [^lin*? üpto] UTK ("one who
has the power to kill").11 Nor does 5Π include much in the way of moral depravity.
In the Book of Ben Sira, 31Ü and 3Π usually denote the "good things" and "bad
things" in life. The moral qualities of good correspond to a God-fearing life in
accordance with Torah, and the range for a moral application of evil is much less
severe than it is in Genesis. The range of meaning for moral evil includes slander
and other forms of deceit but does not include physical violence such as murder.
Nor does it include transgressions of commandments; for example, adultery is spo­
ken of as "sin" but not as "evil" (Sir 23:16-27). The clearest statements about moral
evil are included in Ben Sira's numerous comments about the power of speech.12
In addition, a number of verses relate to physical or spiritual well-being, with miü
as "good things," "prosperity," or "comfort," and ΠΧ7Ί as "bad things," "adversity,"
or "misery."
Thus, when we analyze the Hebrew of the Book of Ben Sira, Ben Sira's fig­
ures of the "good wife" and the "evi/ wife" should be viewed in terms of their
schematic status and situated against the background of a semantic range for D1Ü
and sn that is so limited that "good" and "evil" are misleading translations. For
this study, the labels I choose for the two wife-figures are "Good Wife" and "Bad
Wife."

11
For all Hebrew examples and their translations, letters or words in square brackets indicate
conjectures about text that is missingfromthe Hebrew manuscripts. The primary reference for trans-
lation is The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (ed. David J. A. Clines; 7 vols.; Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic Press, 1993-2010), cited as DCH
12
See especially BBS 5:8-6:1; Sir 28:13-26; BBS 37:18.
 IS EVE THE "WOMAN" IN SIRACH 25:24? 727

II. Eve?
The concept of the four-person schema is an important element of this study
because BBS 25:24 occurs in the midst of the schematic passages about "good"
and "bad" wives. An overview of vocabulary from the Hebrew and Greek texts
gives a foretaste of the sort of discrepancies to be seen later, in detail, in the analysis
of v. 24 itself. The table below shows all pairings in the Book of Ben Sira of the
words (Π)5Π ("bad/evil") or miü ("good") with HWN ("woman/wife") and also
gives the Greek translations.13 The actual phrase Π37ΊTON("a bad wife") does not
occur in chap. 25, though it is possible that at least one of the "Bad Wife" verses
present in Sirach was omitted from our only Hebrew source, the anthological MS C.
The Greek translation uses two words, πονηρία and κακία, to translate (Π)$7Ί. The
range of meaning for forms of πονηρία is closer to the use of (Π)#Ί in the early
chapters of Genesis, as "wicked(ness)," than to the use of (n)SH in the Book of
Ben Sira as "bad(ness)" or "misfortune."14 For forms of κακία, the semantic range
is close enough to that of (Π)5Π in the Book of Ben Sira that the words can share
a translation as "bad(ness)." Because only one of the nine instances in the Greek
translation has κακία (BBS 25:19), it is evident that the more extreme interpretation
of (n)STl has prevailed.

VERSE (MSS) BOOK OF BEN SIRA (SIRACH

25:13 (C)[?] run (n.) badness-of-[?wife?; πονηρίαν γυναικός (n.) wickedness-of-wife

25:16 (Not extant in Hebrew) γυναικός πονηράς (adj.) wicked wife
25:17 (C) nwx sn (n.) badness-of-wife πονηρία γυναικός (n.) wickedness-of-wife
25:19 (C) nwx nsn (n.) badness-of-wife κακίαν γυναικός (n.) badness-of-wife
25:23 (Not extant in Hebrew) γυνή πονηρά (adj.) wicked wife
25:25 (Not extant in Hebrew) γυναικί πονηρά (adj.) wicked wife
26:1 (C) naiü 7WX (adj.) good wife γυναικός αγαθής (adj.) good wife
26:3 (C) mia nwx (adj.) good wife γυνή αγαθή (adj.) good wife
26:7 (Not extant in Hebrew) γυνή πονηρά (adj.) wicked wife
42:6 (B) Πΐ7Ί nwx (adj.) bad wife γυναικί πονηρά (adj.) wicked wife
42:13 (BM) nttfK nsn (n.) badness-of-wife πονηρία γυναικός (n.) wickedness-of-wife

13
In v. 13, "wife" is inferred from context. For v. 19, although Beentjes has 7ΜΊ (Book ofBen
Sira in Hebrew, 98), Zeev Ben-Hayyim has ΓΙΙΠ, which matches the other instances (The Book of
Ben Sira: Text, Concordance and an Analysis of the Vocabulary, by the Academy of Hebrew Lan­
guage, with a foreword in English by Zeev Ben-Hayyim [Jerusalem: Keter, 1973] 25,98). For BBS
42:6, a marginal note replaces Π57Ί with ntPSO, "stupid."
14
In the matched comments on thefloodsequence, however, the LXX of Genesis uses κακία
in 6:5 and πονηρός in 8:21, but the Hebrew is (n)SH both places.
 728 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73,2011

The semantic range of the words linked with "wife" in the Greek translation of
BBS 25 does not match the range in Hebrew. Thus, there is already an underlying
dissymmetry between the two versions of the passage that is the context for
BBS/Sir 25:24, so that interpretations of the verse itself begin from a condition of
imbalance.
Book of Ben Sira 25:24 occurs at the end of a series of comments on the Bad
Wife and is followed by a series on the Good Wife. The chart on p. 729 shows the
entire passage, with a box enclosing v. 24. On the left side of the chart is my trans­
lationfromthe Hebrew text of the Book of Ben Sira, MS C, and on therightis my
15
translation from the Greek text, Sirach.
The Hebrew text of BBS 25:13-26 has six fewer verses than the Greek trans­
lation, a disparity due to some combination of omissions from the Book of Ben
Sira and accretions to Sirach. Of the verses present in both texts, most are approx­
imate equivalents, and a few are very close. The major discrepancies are in w. 17
and 24. The semantic distance between the Hebrew and Greek texts is evident from
the following translations of 25:17.

BBS wx n*oa T w nwx in A wife's badness darkens the appearance of a husband

25:17 aif? 1[2]D -np'i —and englooms his countenance like a bear.

Sir πονηρία γυναικός άλλοιοΐ την A wife's wickedness changes her appearance
25:17 ορασιν αυτής, και σκοτοΐ το —and darkens her countenance like a bear.
πρόσωπον αυτής ώς αρκος

Though the Greek for v. 17 matches the Hebrew in mentioning someone's "appear­
ance" and "countenance," in the Hebrew text that person is the husband and in the
Greek it is the wife. The Hebrew verse is in accord with other verses in the passage
that concern the deterioration of the husband's physical well-being (BBS 25:13,
20, 23, 24).
Book of Ben Sira 25:24 and Sir 25:24, the central objects of this study, do
not have the same capacity to generate allusions to Eve. At many points, BBS
25:24 is significantly unlike its Greek translation (see the chart on p. 730). Of the
six Hebrew word units in BBS 25:24, five of the six are problematic for an inter­
pretation of the female figure as Eve. The graphic on p. 730 shows the Hebrew
and Greek verses divided into units according to the Hebrew text. The top row

15
The Hebrew text of v. 18b is mKJV 1ÖS7Ü lôm. The word D57Ü means "taste" or "discern-
ment." DCH 3:372b gives "he sighs without his discernment." I translate as "taste" because the
English word can include "discernment" and also allows sexual connotations, as in Prov 30:20 and
rabbinic discussions of texts such as m. Ket. 5:9. For v. 22, the meaning of the Hebrew is not certain
because words are missing, but the general significance is that a man who marries for money (v. 21)
will be shamed.
 IS EVE THE "WOMAN" IN SIRACH 25:24? 729

BOOK OF BEN SIRA 25:13-26:1 SIRACH (GREEK)

(HEBREW, MS C)

Any wound, and not like [?wound-of?] 13 Any blow, but not a heart's blow—and any
heart—anything bad, and not like the wickedness, but not the wickedness of a
badness of [?a wife?]. wife.
Any attack, but not an attack of haters—and
14
any vengeance, but not vengeance of enemies.
There is no head above a serpent's head—and
(No Hebrew equivalent) 15
there is no wrath above an enemy's wrath.
I would prefer to dwell-with a lion and a
16
dragon—than to dwell-with a wicked wife.
A wife's badness darkens the appearance 17 A wife's wickedness changes her
of a husband—and englooms his appearance—and darkens her
countenance like a bear. countenance like a bear.
Her husband dwells among bad-things— 18 Her husband sits among the neighbors
and without his "taste," he bemoans —and he cannot help sighing bitterly.
himself.
There is little badness like a wife's 19 Trivial is any badness to a wife's
badness—may a sinner's lot befall her! badness—a sinner's lot fall upon her!
Like a hard ascent for an old man—a 20 A sandy ascent for an elder's feet—thus
talkative wife for a diminished husband! is a talkative wife for a quiet husband.
Do not fall for a woman's beauty—and 21 Do not attach yourself to the beauty of a
do not hasten to what is hers. woman—and do not yearn for a woman.
For in the assembly [?] shame—a wife 22 Anger, shamelessness, and great disgrace
sustaining [?] her husband. —whenever a wife supplies her husband.
(No Hebrew equivalent) 23 Downcast heart and sullen countenance
and a heart's blow—a wicked wife.
Slackness of hands and weakness of 23 Restless hands and palsied knees—she
knees—a wife who will not make her who does not welcome her husband.
husband happy.

From a wife is the start of iniquity—and 24 From a wife is the beginning of sin—
because of her we waste away, all alike. and through her we all die.

25 Do not give to water an outlet— nor give

(No Hebrew equivalent)
A good wife—happy is her husband
—and the number of his days
is doubled. (Etc.)
free speech to a wicked wife.
26 If she does not go beneath your hands—
cut her off from your flesh.
1 A good wife—happy is her husband—and
the number of his days is double. (Etc.)
 730 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73,2011

BBS irr wia Vani yns rftnn nwxa From a wife is the start of iniquity/guilt
25:24 —and because of her we waste away, all alike.

Sir άπο γυναικός αρχή αμαρτίας, From a wife is the beginning of sin
25:24 και δι' αυτήν άποθνήσκομεν πάντες. —and through her we all die.

notes whether the Greek translation of the unit is a "MINOR" or "MAJOR" diver­
gence from the Hebrew. For each word pair, I compare the vocabulary of BBS/Sir
with that of words associated with Eve in Genesis 2 and 3, using the MT and LXX
of Genesis.

i= i MINOR i MAJOR J, MINOR 4 MAJOR I MINOR

7ΓΡ
From wife start of iniquity and because of her we waste away all alike

άπο γυναικός άρχή αμαρτίας καΐ δι* αυτήν άποθνήσκομεν πάντες

From wife beginning of sin and through her we die all

The only equivalent word pair is thefirst,in which the Greek and Hebrew words
translated as "wife" have similar semantic ranges and are both available for allu­
sions to Eve.
A description of the minor differences highlights some elements found also
in the major ones and is a useful preliminary to the detailed analyses of the major
differences. There is a minor semantic discrepancy in the Hebrew/Greek word pair
rhUT\ and αρχή, both translated as "beginning." The Greek word αρχή is the word
used in the LXX version of Gen 1:1 to translate Γί^ΧΊ ("beginning"). According
to John J. Collins, Π^ΚΊ "carries a sense of hierarchical as well as temporal pri­
macy," but the Hebrew word in BBS 25:24, Π^ΠΓί, "has a more strictly temporal
sense."16 The word ΓΡΦΝΊ could evoke the creation stories of Genesis, but TOUT)
cannot do so.
The word Π*?ΠΓΙ cannot evoke thefirstchapters of Genesis because it does not
occur there. Thus, it is not available in the system through which Ben Sira alludes
to a particular biblical text by using a rare word that belongs to that text. Maurice
Gilbert notes Ben Sira's preference for allusion rather than citation, saying that "at
times Ben Sira made incidental use of an expression from Genesis 1-11 without
necessarily and clearly referring to its original context."17 Gilbert offers examples

16
John J. Collins, "Before the Fall: The Earliest Interpretations of Adam and Eve," in The
Idea of Biblical Interpretation: Essays in Honor of James L. Kugel (ed. Hindy Najman and Judith H.
Newman; JSJSup 83; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004) 293-308, here 298.
17
Maurice Gilbert, "Ben Sira, Reader of Genesis 1-11," in Intertextual Studies in Ben Sira
and Tobit: Essays in Honor of Alexander A. Di Leila, O.F.M. (ed. Jeremy Corley and Vincent Skemp;
CBQMS 38; Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2005) 89-99, here 90.
 IS EVE THE "WOMAN" IN SIRACH 25:24? 731

that include TO as an allusion to Gen 2:18 (BBS 36:24b) and Ίϊ\ Vi for Gen 4:12,
14 (BBS 36:25b).18
The Hebrew/Greek pair translated as "because of her" and "through her,"
Tlbbxi and δι' αυτήν, are close, but there is a minor discrepancy. The Hebrew points
more toward the result of an act, while the Greek focuses on the actant as a conduit
for the result. In the word pair 1ΓΡ and πάντες, the last of the minor differences,
πάντες corresponds to Hebrew *?D or 1Í7D, "all" or "all of us." The word 7ΓΡ is
translated as "together" or "as one" when it indicates unity; translated as "all at
once" to show temporal similarity; and translated as "all alike" to show similarity
of circumstances. Neither V7JQ nor 7ΓΡ occurs in the early chapters of Genesis.
The two major divergences are the Greek words translated as "sin" and "die."
The term translated as αμαρτία ("sin") is the Hebrew word "p37. But this is not the
Hebrew word one would expect from reading the Greek translation of 25:24. The
expected word would be NOT, which is semantically close to the Greek αμαρτία
because both relate to "missing (a mark)." In Sirach, ΝΟΠ is always translated as a
noun or verb form of άμαρτάνω. In the Book of Ben Sira, \\V occurs twelve times,
and ten times out of twelve the translation in Sirach is αμαρτία, once άδικος and
once λύπη. The word ])V, however, though often used in parallel with ΧϋΠ, seems
to have its own distinct semantic range, which centers on "iniquity" but includes
"guilt (for iniquity)" and/or "punishment (for iniquity)."
Moreover—whatever the similarities and differences between "iniquity" and
"sin"—neither "¡IS? nor Κ0Π is ever used in connection with Eve. Both words are
first used in connection with Cain. In Gen 4:7, God tells Cain, γΤ) ΠΝϋΠ ΠΠΟ^,
which means something like "an opening for sin awaits," and in v. 13 Cain cries
out, Nfcttö "TO *?Π}, which can mean both "my punishment is too great to bear"
and "my iniquity is too great to take away." Thus, the introduction of both sorts of
transgressions occurs in conjunction with the character Cain and can relate to Eve
only by association, if her eating the fruit of the tree is interpreted as the first "sin."
The table below shows the words in Genesis 4 that relate to TIS? in BBS 25:24
and αμαρτία in Sir 25:24. The Greek word αίτία, which translates yi37 in Gen 4:13,
means "responsibility, mostly in a bad sense, guilt, blame, or the imputation
thereof, i.e., an accusation."19

BBS MT GENESIS SIRACH LXX GENESIS

BBS/Sir 25:24 iw — αμαρτία —

Gen 4:7 — άμαρτάνω
Gen 4:13 αίτία

18
Ibid.
19
LSJ, 44, s.v. αίτία.
 732 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73, 2011

Of the six Hebrew/Greek word pairs in BBS/Sir 25:24,TOand αποθνήσκω

have the least overlap of semantic range. The verb rootTOmeans "to expire," "to
breathe one's last breath," or "to waste away." SometimesTOresults in death, or
is itself a result of death as "a body." In classical Hebrew, however, "death," and
"mortality" in contrast to "immortality," are almost always expressed through the
verb root ΓΓΙΟ. Thus, mö is close to the Greek θάνατος and αποθνήσκω. In Genesis,
Eve's association with death is through words from the verb root DIE. The link
originates with the prohibition against eating thefruitof the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil (Gen 2:17) and culminates in her conversation with the serpent
(Gen 3:3-4). Eve has no association with the wordTO,which is part of the story
of the flood (Genesis 6-8). In Genesis 7, all land creatures slowly suffocate, as the
waters rise in response to God's plan "to destroy all flesh that has in it the breath
of life, from under the heavens—each that is upon the earth, 571Γ it shall expire"
(6:17; also 7:21). The connection between "breath" and TO is clear; therefore,
"expire" is an appropriate translation.
The table on p. 733 shows all nine verses in the Book of Ben Sira that use
TO, with the Greek translations. The verses are not in sequence but are grouped
according to the translations I chose. Of the nine verses, the semantic range
includes three verses with unambiguous conditions of death. In BBS 4:18, the
choice between "expire" and "waste away" is unclear. All the remaining verses
use TO for a condition that is not death, and, in each case, the context indicates
that "waste away" is a better translation than "expire." Book of Ben Sira 25:24 is
among these verses because its context is a sequence of debilitations that befall
the husband. Therefore, I translateTOin 25:24 as "waste away."
In the first set of verses, the Greek words νεκρός and σώμα translate forms
ofTOthat refer to a dead person.20 Book of Ben Sira 14:18, the verse that hovers
between "expire" and "waste away," is translated by τελευτάω. In the verses I
translate as "waste away," TO is translated twice by αποθνήσκω, once by λύπη,
once by τελευτάω, and once not at all, since there is no related word in the Greek
translation.
The table on p. 734 compares the LXX's translation ofTOin BBS 25:24 with
the translations of mö in the biblical passages that include Eve (Genesis 2-3). The
verses in Genesis 6 and 7 about "expiring" in the flood are included as a cross-
check on the verb rootTOin BBS 25:24. The bottom section of the table gives
excerptsfromTakamitsu Muraoka's entries for the Greek verbs αποθνήσκω, τελευ­
τάω, and εκλείπω.21 The LXX translations use a form of αποθνήσκω for all the

20
In the translation of BBS 48:5, "YYY" renders " r n " (three of the Ietterai/), which repre­
sents the Tetragrammaton. Manuscripts A, B, C, and E use this device (or """). Manuscript M uses
other words, such as "ΉΧ (twice) or ρ^Χ (once).
21
Takamitsu Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint: Chiefly of the Pentateuch
and the Twelve Prophets (Louvain: Peeters, 2002) 53-54, 552, and 164. Muraoka's complete edition
of the lexicon (A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint [rev. ed.; Louvain/Walpole, MA: Peeters,
 IS EVE THE " W O M A N " IN SIRACH 25:24? 733

VERSE (MSS) GREEK HEBREW TRANSLATION FROM HEBREW

1
8:7 (A) νεκρός sm ^s? y?nnn χ ? Do not gloat on account of one who expires
D^ÔXII I ^ D Ί3Τ —remember: all of us are "being gathered."
38:16 (B) σώμα ΙΊΝ^ φΟΝ 1BÖWÖ3 According to his sentence, his body's being
gathered
ansnra n^nn ^κι —and do not withdraw yourself from their (?)
corpse.
48:5 (B) νεκρός ma» sm ovan The one who raises one who expires from death
w
fix-D ^ixwai —and from Sheol by the will of YYY.
m
14:18 (A ) τελευτάω ^an ΊΠΧΊ sm . . . expire/waste away and after become ripe.

14:17 (A) θάνατος + TÒT i m irai ^ All flesh like a garment will wear out—and the
απόθνησκα) mx νια aViS7 pim decree forever: "Surely they shall waste away!"
25:24 (C) απόθνησκα> "py n^nn nt^xa From a wife is the start of iniquity—and
irr usm nVaai because of her we waste away, all alike.
37:2 (Β J)) λύπη nia (TP) ^S? S7^a H ion Is it not a sentence of wasting away toward
death—
-rc1? nsm i^D3D sn a companion like your soul, changed to an enemy?
37:30 (Β) ^in W Äiayn m-a Ό For with increase of pleasure, sickness is gained—
ΝΊΪ *?K srr nmam and the excessive-one will waste away to nausea.
37:30 (D) 'Vin 1W ^3ΊΚ m Ό For with much eating, sickness is gained—and the
ΚΊΤ ^y snr vnam trembling-one will waste away from nausea.
37:31 τελευτάω ism*5 D'an noia *òa Without discipline, many have wasted away
(Β,£>) (aw)
D»n τον natwm —and one who is heedful will prolong life.

instances of ΓΪ1& in chaps. 2 and 3 of Genesis. Results for sm are mixed: the same
event is translated by τελευτάω when it is announced in Gen 6:17 and by απο­
θνήσκω when the event occurs in Gen 7:21.
Muraoka distinguishes between αποθνήσκω and τελευτάω on the grounds
that αποθνήσκω could imply a natural death—simple mortality—while τελευτάω
means the end of life, but "not as a result of natural death." He notes that, in his
sources, forms of αποθνήσκω translate 111ft 171 times and SH31 only three times;
τελευτάω translates ΓΙ10 forty times and 57131 twice. Interestingly, the verb εκλείπω—
which translates 571Λ six times in Muraoka's sources but never translates ΓΙ10—is
not used for any of the instances of 5TU in the Book of Ben Sira nor for those in
chaps. 2-7 of Genesis. The Hebrew verb S7tt seems to occupy a semantic niche

2009]) lacks the earlier versions' "Section D," which gives the Hebrew equivalents; however, the
2009 edition gives the same definitions as those cited here.
 734 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73,2011

BBS MT GENESIS SIRACH LXX GENESIS

BBS/Sir 25:24 άποθνήσκομεν

g l i
Gen 2:17 θανάτω άποθανεϊσθε
Gen 3:3,4 άποθάνητε/θανάτω
άποθανεϊσθε
Gen 6:17 τελευτάω
I I

Gen 7:21 άπέθανεν... άπέθανεν

αποθνήσκω = to come to the end of one's physical existence. Hebrew verb roots: 171
times = ma; 3 times = sm; 3 times = r m

τελευτάω = to come to the end of one 's life not as a result of natural death; Gen 6:17.
Hebrew verb roots: 40 times = ma; twice =

εκλείπω = ptc. ~ λιπών, to die out, perish:... Gen 49:33 (natural death). To lose strength:
physically, as in old age; Gen 25:8, 35:29, cf. 49:33. Hebrew verb roots: 6 times = sm;
4 times = ηιρχ; 3 times = ^in, ODX; twice = oan, *γν, ral, mn; once = bm, Ί2Π, in, rro,
r\n\ tra, mo, ηο^, η1?^, mx.

between the Greek verbs τελευτάω and εκλείπω. It often indicates the end of life,
but in terms of the process of dying rather than the state of death, which is mö.
The instances ofTOare gradual movements toward death, such as suffocation (in
the flood of Genesis) or extreme debilitation due to illness or old age (in the Book
of Ben Sira). The only possible allusive connection between Eve and death for the
MT of Genesis would be through the verb mö used in Gen 3:3-4 in her speech and
the serpent's speech to her. Thus,TOcannot allude to Eve.
On the basis of contextual analyses of the Greek and Hebrew texts, several
modern scholars have contested the identification of Eve as the female figure in
Sir 25:24. The major dissenter is John R. Levison, who states that "Sirach 25:24
refers not to Eve but to the evil wife."22 Others comment on the verse as an anom-
aly among the allusions to the early chapters of Genesis. For example, Collins
declares that "there is no precedent in Hebrew tradition for the view that woman
is the source of all evil, but there is a clear Greek precedent in the story of Pandora's
box."23 But he says no more about this insight, though he mentions elsewhere that

22
Levison, "Is Eve to Blame?" 622. Di Leila finds Levison's argument "unconvincing," stat-
ing that "in ν 24a, Ben Sira alludes to Gen 3:6—chronologically the woman in the Garden of Eden
was the first to sin; her husband ate the forbidden fruit afterward" (Skehan and Di Leila, Wisdom of
Ben Sira, 348-49).
23
John J. Collins, Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age (OTL; Louisville: Westminster John
Knox, 1997) 68. The reference to Pandora appears also in his essay "Marriage, Divorce, and Family
in Second Temple Judaism," in Leo G. Perdue et al., Families in Ancient Israel (Family, Religion,
 IS EVE THE "WOMAN" IN SIRACH 25:24? 735

"Sirach 25:24 . . . is anomalous in the context of Ben Sira. The viewpoint it

expresses becomes standard in later tradition. . . . In light of this tradition, most
scholars assume that Ben Sira is referring to Eve in Sirach 25:24."24
Verse 24 is the last line of an extended poem on the effects of the Bad Wife
on a Sage-husband. The verse about the Good Wife's effect on a Sage-husband,
which immediately follows 25:24, begins the parallel poem by reversing the image
of debilitation. As Levison notes, if v. 24 refers to Eve, then it "interrupts its imme­
diate context, which deals with the drastic effects the evil wife produces in her
husband."25 Based on the semantic links of BBS 25:24 within the passages about
wives, the contextual identity of the female figure in 25:24 would be the role of
Bad Wife. Verse 24 is the culmination of the Bad Wife passage, but it is also part
of that passage as well as being part of the combined Bad Wife/Good Wife pas­
sages. Thus, any further identities of the "woman/wife" in BBS 25:24 must be
semantically coherent with the other Bad Wife verses and must also be a coherent
contrast to thefigureof the Good Wife.

III. Pandora?
"From a wife is the start of iniquity—and because of her we waste away, all
alike" (BBS 25:24). "From a wife is the beginning of sin, and through her we all
die" (Sir 25:24). Neither statement can refer to a living human being; they must
refer tofiguresfromone or more culturally authoritative narratives. In 25:24, Ben

and Culture; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997) 104-62, here 144.1 found Collins's comment
about Pandora while looking for previous scholarly work that identifies her, rather than Eve, as the
female figure referenced in BBS 25:24. He says no more about this insight, and his comment that
"there can be no doubt that Sir 25:24 . . . is the earliest extant witness to the view that Eve was
responsible for the introduction of sin and death" (Jewish Wisdom, 67; see also idem, Seers, Sibyls
and Sages in Hellenistic-Roman Judaism [JSJSup 57; Leiden: Brill, 1997] 372) is modified by a
later conclusion that "the statement in Sir 25:24 seems to arise from his distrust of women rather
thanfromhis exegesis of Genesis" ("Before the Fall," 298).
24
Collins, "Before the Fall," 297. Levison declares that "the attribution of death to Eve con­
flicts with Ben Sira's view of the origin of death. Ben Sira regards mortality as the expression of
God's will for creation since the beginning," citing Sir 14:16; 16:26-17:10; and 41:3b, 4a ("Is Eve
to Blame?" 618). James L. Kugel states that Sir 17:1-2 is "contrary to the 'Punishment Was Mor­
tality' motif to which [Ben Sira] himself alludes in Sir. 25:24—Adam had always been intended for
mortality" (Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible as It Was at the Start of the Common Era
[Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998] 127). Collins (citing Kugel) comments that Sir
17:1-2 appears to contradict 25:24, and that "the view that humanity was always meant to be mortal
is found again in Sir 41:4, where we are told that death is 'the LORD'S decree for all flesh,' and not
a punishment" ("Before the Fall," 296-97). Note that chap. 17 of Ben Sira is not extant in Hebrew,
but BBS 41:4 is extant in MSS Β and M. Manuscript Β reads *7Xa "IW3 ta pta HT (MS M lacks most
of this colon).
25
Levison, "Is Eve to Blame?" 618.
 736 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73, 2011

Sira's own schematic creation, the Bad Wife, is herself epitomized by a different
female character, one that his audience could recognize. The universality of the
pronouncements in 25:24 and their designation as an etiology indicate a coherent
story behind the cryptic references. For the verse in Sirach, the pairing of "sin"
with "death" is a requirement for identifying the female figure. Thus, for Sirach
the femalefigurewill appear in a story about the universal origins of sin and death.
Eve has been construed as just such a figure.
For the Hebrew verse in the Book of Ben Sira, however, the female figure
must comefroma story about the universal origins oí suffering and extreme debil-
ity. That story, I suggest, is the story of Pandora as told by Hesiod.26 The events
recounted by Hesiod occur in a world whose only human inhabitants are men.
Prometheus tricks Zeus into givingfireto men and, as revenge, Zeus vows, "I shall
give [to men] in exchange for fire a bad-thing in which they may all take pleasure
in their spirit, embracing their own badness" (Works and Days 57-58).27 Various
gods and goddesses participate in making the "bad-thing"—a woman—ending
with Hermes, who gives her "a dog's mind and .. . lies and guileful words and a
thievish character" (ibid. 67-78). Hermes leads her to Prometheus's brother, who
accepts the "gift." And it is only after the brother has accepted her, "when he
already had the bad-thing, that he understood. For previously the tribes of men
used to live upon the earth entirely apart from bad-things, without grievous toil
and distressful diseases, which give death to men. . . . But the woman removed
the great lid from the storage jar with her hands and scattered all its contents
abroad—she wrought baneful evils for human beings" (ibid. 89-95).28 In his
Theogony Hesiod remarks on Pandora's contribution, declaring, "from her comes
the race of female women: for of her is the deadly race and tribe of women, a great
woe for mortals, dwelling with men, no companions of baneful poverty but only
of luxury" (590-94). The quotationfromthe Theogony explicitly states that it was
"mortals" who suffered the "great woe" of having to live with women. In Hesiod's
universe, there can be no doubt that the men are mortal—mortality is the crucial
attribute distinguishing them from the immortal gods and goddesses who made
Pandora. Thus, the new condition introduced by women is not death but debility
in the form of changes in the men's expected life span or cause of death.
In the table on p. 737, verses from Book of Ben Sira that link a "bad wife"
with debilitating conditions are juxtaposed with similar verses from Hesiod's
descriptions of Pandora and the "deadly race of women" for which she is the
prototype.

26
Works by Hesiod are cited from Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia (ed. and trans.
G. W. Most; LCL 57; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006).
27
To key this text to Sirach, words related to κακός are italicized and translated as "bad,"
though Most translates them as "evil."
28
Most translates άνθρωπος as "man" in line 90 and as "human being" in line 95, with άνήρ
as "man" in line 92.
 IS EVE THE "WOMAN" IN SIRACH 25:24? 737

BOOK OF BEN SIRA (MS C) HESIOD, THEOGONY AND WORKS AND DAYS

26:3 A good wife is a good gift—and in the portion
of one-fearing-YYY, may she be given.
25:13 Any wound, and not like a heart's wound
—anything bad, and not like the badness of
a wife.
25:18 Her husband dwells among bad-things
—and without his "taste," he bemoans
himself.
25:19 There is little badness like
a wife's badness—may a sinner's lot befall her!
[He] who acquires a cherished
wife, well-fitted in her thoughts,
for him, badness is balanced
continually with noble-goodness
during his whole life. But he who
obtains the baneful species lives
with incessant woe in his breast,
in his spirit and heart, and his
bad-fortune is incurable
(Theogony 607A2).29

25:20 Like a hard ascent for an old man [a bad wife is] a dinner- ώμω,
— a talkative wife for a diminished ambusher, one who singes her from
husband! husband without a torch, ωμός,
25:23 Slackness of hands and weakness powerful though he be, and i.e.,
of knees—a wife who will not make gives him over to a raw old untimely,
her husband happy. age (Works 704-5). 30 premature

25:24 From a wife is the [Before Pandora, the first wife,] the tribes of men used to
start of iniquity—and live upon the earth entirely apart from bad-fortunes,
because of her we without grievous toil and distressful diseases, which give
waste away, all alike. death to men. (For in misery mortals grow old at once.)
(Works 90-92). 31

The Book of Ben Sira and Hesiod's works mention a prototypical wife as the origin
of suffering or illness and of debilitation or premature death—but not as the origin
of human mortality. The similarities between the two texts are so strong that, if
one does not accept Ben Sira's familiarity with Hesiod's tale, some other explana­
tion is necessary. Yet the approximately five-hundred-year gap between Hesiod's
lifetime and that of Ben Sira would be ample time for the oral dissemination of
Hesiod's tales.
If, as many scholars remark, Ben Sira seems familiar with a range of ideas
associated with Greek-speaking groups such as the Stoics, then he could also be

29
For the translation of έσθλός, I changed "good" to "noble-goodness" to distinguish it from
αγαθός, which is the common binary pairing for κακός in BBS/Sirach.
30
The first part of the sentence (702-3) is another contrast between good and bad wives. The
translation by Most begins: "For a man acquires nothing better than a good wife . . ." (boldface
added). However, the noun-adjective pairs that typify BBS/Sirach do not occur here, so I would
translate: "For as to a wife [γυναικός], a man acquires nothing better than a good one [αγαθής], but
nothing more chilling than a bad one [της δ' αύτε κακής]."
31
The phrase in parentheses is considered a gloss (Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Tes­
timonia, 95).
 738 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73,2011

familiar with the culturally iconic "texts" that circulated in the large geographical
32
area subject to Hellenistic influence. "It would be unreasonable," according to
Leo G. Perdue, "to think that Greek culture, including philosophy, literature, art,
and religion, available at least in summary form through theflorilegia,would not
33
have been known by Ben Sira." Jack T. Sanders, speaking of the "specifically
Hellenic influence on Ben Sira's thinking," states that "for any writer within the
Greek sphere of influence during the Hellenistic period such influence may be
assumed before it is proved."34 Thus, although Sanders discounts a particular set
of alleged echoes from Hesiod, he accepts that Ben Sira could have been familiar
with Hesiod's works in some form.35 Moreover, Ben Sira need not have had access
to written excerpts from WorL· and Days or the Theogony Other ways for him to
encounter Pandora's story would be as oral references by the hellenized citizens
who were part of his social world, or even as visual depictions of the story in their
homes. As Alexander A. Di Leila notes, Ben Sira's familiarity with any Greek pas­
sage could be due to the fact that "the ideas and expressions in the passage became
well known in Ben Sira's day."36
If Ben Sira was familiar with the story of Pandora, there remains the question
of what he could accomplish by incorporating the story of Pandora into his work.
What function(s) might a Greek story have in a Hebrew text? The answers depend
on the discursive purposes that readers identify in the Hebrew work and on the
political situation between "Greek" and "Hebrew" at its time of origin. Ben Sira
lived as a member of a colonized group in the aftermath of Alexander's con-

32
For works on this specific topic, see Paul A. Holloway, "'Beguile Your Soul' (Sir 14:16;
30:23): An Epicurean Theme in Ben Sira," JT58 (2008) 219-34; Sharon Lea Mattila, "Ben Sira
and the Stoics: A Reexamination of the Evidence," JBL 119 (2000) 473-501 ; Friedrich V. Reiterer,
"Review of Recent Research on the Book of Ben Sira (1980-1996)," in The Book of Ben Sira in
Modern Research: Proceedings of the First International Ben Sira Conference, 28-31 July 1996,
Soesterberg, Netherlands (ed. Pancratius C. Beentjes; BZAW 255; Berlin/New York: de Gruyter,
1997) 23-60, esp. 41-43; and Gregory E. Sterling, "'The Jewish Philosophy': The Presence of Hel­
lenistic Philosophy in Jewish Exegesis in the Second Temple Period," in Ancient Judaism in Its Hel­
lenistic Context (ed. Carol Bakhos; JSJSup 95; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2005) 131-53. Benjamin G.
Wright lists further examples in '"Fear the Lord and Honor the Priest': Ben Sira as Defender of the
Jerusalem Priesthood," in idem, Praise Israelfor Wisdom and Instruction: Essays on Ben Sira and
Wisdom, the Letter ofAristeas and the Septuagint (JSJSup 131 ; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008) 97-126,
here 126 η .96.
33
Perdue, Sword and the Stylus, 264.
34
Jack T. Sanders, Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom (SBLMS 28; Chico, CA: Scholars Press,
1983)27.
35
Ibid., 42-43. The set of matches with Hesiod (none related to BBS 25-26) was proposed
by Theophil Middendorp, in Die Stellung Jesu Ben Siros zwischen Judentum und Hellenismus
(Leiden: Brill, 1973).
36
Skehan and Di Leila, Wisdom of Ben Sira, 47. Di Leila (ibid.) also mentions "an anthology
containing Greek authors" as a possible source of Ben Sira's information.
 IS EVE THE "WOMAN" IN SIRACH 25:24? 739

quests.37 The language and cultural inheritance of the current colonizers were
Greek; Ben Sira's chosen language for his "book" was Hebrew. Further, in the
Book of Ben Sira, the overarching discursive concern is the construction of a Jew­
ish identity that adapts features of Hellenistic culture and incorporates them while
maintaining and perpetuating a set of traditional values. Ben Sira alludes to previ­
ous texts and expects that his words will have a similar role in the future, thereby
positioning his work within a Jewish chain of tradition. A "foreign" text cannot
appear as part of this linear identity discourse but only as a contrast to it. Identity
is established, however, through contrast as well as through likeness. The story of
Pandora could become part of a Jewish identity discourse by functioning as a con­
trast to a parallel story from Hebrew sources. This is the context in which, in the
discussion that follows, I propose a pairing of Pandora and the Valorous Wife (D$N
Vri [Prov 31:10] as prototypes for the paired female figures of the Bad Wife and
Good Wife in BBS 25:13-26:3.
The topic of a "bad" wife is condensed into a schematic passage in Book of
Ben Sira 25. Such intense condensation of the bad wife motif can also represent a
choice of genre—specifically, the Greek "invective against women." Laura
McClure speaks of "the traditional ψόγος γυναικών, 'invective against women,'"
which "may have been a very early feature of the ancient Greek literary tradi­
tion."38
By the time of tragedy, the invective against women, whether understood as a
ψόγος γυναικών modeled on Hesiod and the earlier tradition, or simply as a form
of κακώς λέγειν (slander), is a literary commonplace epitomized in a fragment from
Euripides' Aeolus, "Whoever stops slandering women will be called a wretch and
a fool" (. . . Eur. frag. 36 N 2 ). 3 9

If the ψόγος γυναικών is "modeled on Hesiod," then Hesiod's passages about

Pandora are the prototype for the genre. Therefore, Pandora is present in her natural
habitat if this Greek genre provides aframeworkfor BBS 25:13-24. By employing
a Greek literary convention, Ben Sira demonstrates the range of his skill as a sage
and also the diversity and sophistication of the curriculum he can offer to his stu­
dents. That he might use a Greek literary form to carry an anti-Greek subtext would
be an added delight to his fellow sages. Yet, if tales such as those of Pandora were
among the repertoire of storytellers who entertained nonelite groups, then the ide­
ological components of the Book of Ben Sira would be available to auditors

37
Wright discusses political situations that may underlie passages of BBS/Sirach, in '"Put
the Nations in Fear of You': Ben Sira and the Problem of Foreign Rule," in idem, Praise Israel,
127-46.
38
Laura McClure, "'The Worst Husband': Discourses of Praise and Blame in Euripides'
Medea," CP 94 (1999) 373-94, here 374, 377.
39
Ibid., 377-78.
 740 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73,2011

whether or not they noticed the author's cleverness in handling foreign literary
forms.
Ben Sira presents the Bad Wife and the Good Wife as matched opposites. For
example, the former causes the husband to "waste away" and the latter "fattens"
him. Since the two wife figures are units of a matched pair, the Bad Wife's proto­
type from outside the Book of Ben Sira should match the prototype for the Good
Wife, sharing significant features. The passage in the chart below designates the
Good Wife's prototype explicitly: she is Vri JlttfN, the "wife/woman of valor" from
Prov 31:10. 40 The precise allusion to the Valorous Wife reproduces the classic
Hebrew phrase of Prov 31:10: ^Π nWN. The Greek of Sirach, likewise, matches
the LXX of Proverbs: γυνή ανδρεία and γυναίκα άνδρεΐαν.41

BOOK OF BEN SIRA (HEBREW, MS C) 26:1-3 SIRACH (GREEK)

A good wife—happy is her husband 1 A good wife—happy is her husband

—and the number of his days is doubled.
A "valorous wife" fattens her husband
—and [his years]... [rejoice].
A good wife is a [good] gift [nw]—and
in the portion [p^n] of one-fearing-ΥΎΥ,
may she be given.
—and the number of his days is double.
2 A "strong wife" rejoices her husband
—and he will fulfill his years in peace.
3 A good wife is a good portion [μερίς]
—in the portion [μερίς] of one-fearing-
the Lord she will be given.

Though the passage is only three verses, it can function as an example of the
encomium, the Greek praise genre, which is paired in classical rhetoric with its
opposite, the genre of blame. This encomium praises an ideal wife.
Ben Sira's colonial situation does not fit smoothly into the social categories
commonly used to analyze the variety of asymmetrical power relations that exist
in colonial systems. Applications of postcolonial theory and of James C. Scott's
work with "hidden transcripts" expect a dimension of active political discontent—
an overt or hidden desire for political independence—that is not strongly marked
in the Book of Ben Sira.42 Instead, the hidden transcripts in the Book of Ben Sira
contend at the level of competing cultural categories: Ben Sira extols Judaism as
the best way of life for his (Jewish male) listeners, in contrast to the illusory attrac­
tions of Hellenism.
40
The other two instances of Vri DEW in the Tanakh are in Prov 12:4, "A 'woman of valor' is
the crown of her husband—and like rot in his bones, a deceiving/shameful one," and Ruth 3:11,
" . . . every 'gate' of my people knows that you are a 'woman of valor.'"
41
Jeremy Corley translates the Greek literally, as "manly wife," in "An Intertexrual Study of
Proverbs and Ben Sira," in Intertextual Studies in Ben Sira and Tobit (ed. Corley and Skemp), 155-
182, here 170. He translates the Hebrew as the less-heroic "capable wife" (ibid.).
42
James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts ofResistance: Hidden Transcripts (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1990).
 IS EVE THE "WOMAN" IN SIRACH 25:24? 741

The passage about wives in BBS 25-26 is an example of the discursive

deployment of "sentiment evocation," in a colonial context, "to evoke the specific
sentiments out of which social borders are constructed."43 The concept of "senti-
ment evocation" acknowledges allegiances according to class but also according
to elements such as religion that cut across class distinctions. Ben Sira's writings
are authorized by his elite status, yet he speaks on behalf of a tradition in which
social justice is a matter of righteousness rather than charity. Colonial elites, func-
tioning as intermediaries, are "able to support or deconstruct the empire's cultural
metanarrative."44 Through his mastery of the Hebrew language—a medium opaque
to the Greek elite, but more-or-less available to Jews—Ben Sira is an intermediary
who is in an excellent position to deconstruct the Greek "cultural metanarrative."
Ben Sira's use of Hebrew introduces the option of employing cryptic forms of
speech through which he can showcase weak points in Hellenism's hegemonic
discourse.
Ben Sira can use the story of Pandora to produce a contrast of ethnicities by
contrasting the two cultures' focal females—using the Greek figure for his Bad
Wife while using the biblical Valorous Wife as the prototype for the Good Wife.
Both figures are used schematically in their texts of origin because they are the
subjects of condensed units of blame or praise as the epitome of bad, or good,
wives. Thus, both figures are already schematized prior to their use in the Book of
Ben Sira, where they stand for Ben Sira's schematic female figures of the Bad
Wife and the Good Wife. Furthermore, by adopting the allegorical practice of using
female figures as emblems of nations or institutions, Ben Sira can embody "Their-
Tradition" and "OurTradition" through the use of Pandora and the Valorous Wife.
The relevant entailment to this semantic device is that the "husband"—the Jewish
male toward whom the discourse is directed—will flourish if he chooses the Good
Wife/Judaism and languish if he chooses the Bad Wife/Hellenism.

IV. Results and Limits

Is Ben Sira's comment in 25:24 an allusion to the biblical character Eve? The
question can yield results, in my opinion, only if the Hebrew and Greek versions
are considered separately. In the Hebrew verse, five of the six word units cannot
allude to Eve through the language of the MT of Genesis. In the most extreme of
these five cases, Ben Sira's verb y*tt cannot point to Eve because $71} is part of a
different story in Genesis (Gen 6:17 and 7:21, the flood) and because an allusion

43
Bruce Lincoln, Discourse and the Construction of Society: Comparative Studies of Myth,
Ritual, and Classification (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989) 9.
44
Leo G. Perdue, "The Book of Ben Sira and Hellenism" (manuscript, January 24, 2009)
1-16, here 3.
 742 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 73,2011

to Eve in connection with death could be made only through the verb mft, used in
her conversation with the serpent (Gen 3:3-4).45
Yet the conclusion that Eve cannot be the figure in BBS 25:24 is not a suffi-
cient answer for my investigation because the verse certainly alludes to some figure
outside the Book of Ben Sira. What character could be the referent? I propose
Hesiod's Pandora as the prototype for Ben Sira'sfigureof the Bad Wife, matched
by the biblical Valorous Wife as the prototype for the Good Wife. Though the
Valorous Wife is designated explicitly, Ben Sira does not name thefigureI identify
as Pandora. The mere fact of her foreign origin might make an explicit reference
inappropriate, and, if the passage on the Bad Wife functions as an unflattering
comment on Hellenistic culture, an indirect identification is prudent.
Pandora's presence, then, would be evoked by means of an indirect allusion—
one accomplished by analogy. Ben Sira's method of alluding to a target text such
as Genesis depends on continuity of language plus afixedvocabulary for the target.
Without continuity of language, allusion could proceed through the production of
genres and themes that are recognizable in the target. In Proverbs, the Valorous
Wife appears in an encomium, "praise of a wife," and is afittingprototype for the
Good Wife when the two figures are named together in the encomium of BBS
26:1-3. Both figures instantiate the theme oía wife who increases the well-being
ofher husband. The opposite set of pairedfigureswill consist of the Bad Wife and
an unnamed figure who shares the attributes of the Bad Wife: her genre, "blame
of a wife," and her theme of a wife who debilitates her husband. Hesiod's Pandora
shares these attributes and is thus a valid choice as the unnamedfigurewho is the
prototype for the Bad Wife, the "woman/wife" in BBS 25:24. Therefore, z/Ben
Sira is aware of the story of Pandora, he can evoke her presence in BBS 25:24
by indirect means; and if his audiences know the story, they can recognize the
allusion.
The choice of a Greek prototype as a contrast for the biblical Valorous Wife
makes sense as a covert act of resistance directed against Hellenistic presumptions
of cultural superiority. As an elite/intellectual member of a colonized group, Ben
Sira contributed to a (re)formulation of the group's shared identity, adapting some
features of the foreign culture to merge them with Jewish priorities. Though Jewish
"sages" would be a major beneficiary of Ben Sira's identity discourse, nonelite
groups would also benefit. If Ben Sira's discursive maneuvers are successful, the
grandchildren of Jewish "peasants" may still be peasants and colonized subjects,
but the identity as "one-who-fears God" will still be available to them.

45
The Greek vocabulary of Sir 25:24 does match words associated with Eve in the LXX of
Genesis. Therefore, by the standard I have applied to both text groups, the Greek verse can allude
to Eve. All further questions about the Greek version are beyond the scope of this study.
 ^ s
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