Footnote 4 – Beatitudes Found Among Dead Sea Scrolls

The Book of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) is part of canonical or inspired scripture for Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, who follow the longer canon or list of the Greek Bible, but not for Jews or Protestants, who follow the shorter canon of the Hebrew Bible, though the Talmud quotes the book with respect. Much of the book’s Hebrew text has been recovered over the last century. The book is useful for reconstructing the development of Jewish ethical thought in the centuries just before the birth of Jesus.