01_Biblica_1_F_Gregory_Layout 1 05/11/12 12:13 Pagina 325 325 SLIPS OF THE TONGUE IN THE SPEECH ETHICS OF BEN SIRA warns of “slips” of the tongue several times, though here caution is important because among the places where this idea occurs, only two are extant in the Hebrew. In order to see why caution is neces- sary, consider Sir 14,1a which reads in the Hebrew version: How fortunate is the one whose mouth does not grieve him (‫.)אשרי אנוש לא עצבו פיהו‬ The Syriac is close to the Hebrew and is concerned only with regret over something said, but the Greek reads a little differently: How fortunate is the person who does not slip by his mouth (maka,rioj avnh,r, o]j ouvk wvli,sqhsen evn tw/| sto,mati auvtou/). While the Hebrew and Syriac view as fortunate the person who has no regrets, the Greek translates ‫ עצב‬with ovlisqa,nw (“to slip”). This translation incorporates the connotation of something said ac- cidentally or unintentionally. Given that the Hebrew does contain the elements of being fortunate or blessed (‫ )אשרי‬and of grieving, it is understandable that the Greek would interpret the dimension of regret as the result of a slip of the tongue. Yet, importantly, in the Hebrew and Syriac the idea of slipping is not explicitly present, and it is possible to regret something later that was said quite intention- ally at the time. A similar textual pattern can be seen in Sir 21,7, which is not extant in the Hebrew. The Greek translation reads (woodenly): “The powerful in tongue is known from afar; and/but the thoughtful person recognizes his slipping” 6. Once again, the Syriac contains no reference to the idea of slipping, which raises the possibility that this concept was absent from Ben Sira’s Hebrew 7. 6 The second line is ambiguous. It could be that the thoughtful person recog- nizes when the powerful in speech has slipped, or it could be that in contrast to the powerful speaker the truly thoughtful person recognizes when he himself has slipped. The latter seems more likely; so also P.W. SKEHAN – A.A. DI LELLA, The Wisdom of Ben Sira (AB 39; New York 1987) 309; R. BULLARD – H. HATTON, A Handbook on Sirach (UBSHS; New York 2008) 425. 7 The Greek is followed by J. MARBÖCK, Jesus Sirach 1-23 (HThKAT; Freiburg 2010) 249; SKEHAN – DI LELLA, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 304; and others. The Syriac is followed by G.H. BOX – W.O.E. OESTERLEY, “The Book of Sirach”, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (ed. R.H. CHARLES) (Oxford 1913) I:388.