Begin with the Ending

What is the current state of knowledge regarding the poem that concludes the Book of Sirach (Sir 51:13–30)? While the original Hebrew text has been lost, the poem survives across three distinct textual traditions: the Greek translation produced toward the end of the second century BCE (the basis for the Vetus Latina ), the Qumran recension incorporated into a Psalms Scroll (11Q5), and the Syriac retroversion (upon which the Hebrew version of the poem preserved in the Cairo Geniza relies). Each witness possesses a unique historical and literary context. Consequently, it is essential to study each textual tradition autonomously, resisting the temptation to create composite reconstructions or conflated versions. This approach facilitates a clearer understanding of each individual text while allowing us to approach, as far as possible, the pedagogical approach of the Jerusalemite sage, thereby opening windows into the socio-historical landscape of the Second Temple period. The present study is primarily textual in nature and constitutes a further step in the investigation of a passage that may serve as a hermeneutical key to the entire book.