What does Ecclesiasticus Chapter 44 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The chapter’s particular figures and sequence remain attributed to its speaker. Every admitted unit is retained, with edition annotations separately labeled. No imported scenes, outcome guarantees or broad doctrines replace local wording.

Chapter breakdown

Ecclesiasticus 44 praises renowned ancestors: rulers, prophets, wise instructors, musicians and virtuous people remembered by their descendants. It also acknowledges people without a surviving memorial; it does not identify them as wicked. Merciful ancestors leave good deeds, a holy inheritance and a remembered covenant. Their bodies rest in peace while their names receive praise.

Henoch pleased God and was translated into paradise to give repentance to nations. Noe is described as just and perfect, a means of reconciliation and a surviving remnant during the flood; the covenant concerns the destruction of all flesh by flood. Abraham's fidelity in temptation, covenant in his flesh and promised descendants receive praise. Their extent is compared with dust and stars and stretches from sea to sea and an unnamed river to the ends. Isaac receives blessing for Abraham's sake; Jacob receives inheritance and division among twelve tribes. These are the chapter's attributed recollections, without supplying an unnamed river's identity.

The story inside

Opening: The chapter’s particular figures and sequence remain attributed to its speaker. Development: Every admitted unit is retained, with edition annotations separately labeled. Conclusion: No imported scenes, outcome guarantees or broad doctrines replace local wording.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The chapter’s particular figures and sequence remain attributed to its speaker.
2
Every admitted unit is retained, with edition annotations separately labeled.
3
No imported scenes, outcome guarantees or broad doctrines replace local wording.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 77750–77754
44:1. Let us now praise men of renown and our fathers in their generation. 44:2. The Lord hath wrought great glory through his magnificence from the beginning.
Lines 77779–77785
44:10. But these were men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed: 44:11. Good things continue with their seed, 44:12. Their posterity are a holy inheritance, and their seed hath stood in the covenants.
Lines 77807–77812
44:20. Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations, and there was not found the like to him in glory, who kept the law of the most High, and was in covenant with him. 44:21. In his flesh he established the covenant, and in temptation he was found faithful.