Jesus ben Sira was a Jewish teacher who probably lived in Jerusalem and wrote this book in about 190 BC. Translated into Greek by his grandson, it became popular among the Greek-speaking Jews of the Dispersion and passed into use in the Christian church because of that traditional popularity. It is a collection of wise sayings, in poetic form and always practical, much of it looking forward to later rabbinic and Christian teaching. Mr Snaith introduces the book and comments on it in the style established for this series. The full text is given, and the commentary is interwoven between short...