01_Biblica_1_F_Gregory_Layout 1 05/11/12 12:13 Pagina 326 326 BRADLEY C. GREGORY These verses should alert us to the possibility that the idea of a slip of the tongue may have been more a concern for Ben Sira’s grandson than for Ben Sira himself 8. While these examples should encourage due caution about references to a slip of the tongue in passages where no Hebrew is extant, there are passages in which a good case can be made that Ben Sira refers to the phenomenon of a slip of the tongue. For example, in a series of ‫ אשרי‬statements Ben Sira says in 25,8: How fortunate is the one who does not fall (‫ )נפל‬by the tongue and the one who is not a servant to one beneath him. Here Ben Sira refers to someone who “falls” by means of the tongue. In his study of the motif of “falling” in Ben Sira, Antonino Minissale concludes that when used in the context of speech “in all cases the ‘falling’ regards the action of the wrong use of the tongue, not its consequence” 9. In other words, “fall” signifies a kind of speech error, not a result of a speech error. Minissale’s interpretation finds support in the parallel line. Just as it is improper for a person to serve someone of lower social status, so a person should be in control of his tongue and not the other way around. Thus, it is likely that the op- erative idea behind the word “fall” in v. 8a is a person’s loss of control regarding his speech. From this angle, the translation of “fall” with olisqanw, “slip”, is reasonable even if slightly different lexically. v , While Proverbs has many statements regarding people who are trapped or ensnared by their tongues, there are no descriptions of speech mistakes as stumbling, slipping, or falling. However, in both Proverbs and Psalms there are many statements that use the image of stumbling, tripping, or slipping feet to describe more general ac- tions and choices along the “path” of life (e.g. Prov 3,23; 4,12; Pss 17,5; 73,2), including in relation to obedience to God’s commands (Pss 37,31; 119,165). The same use of this metaphor is present in Sirach (9,5; 15,12; 31,7; 32,15.20; 34,19) and is even juxtaposed 8 Cf. A. MINISSALE, La versione greca del Siracide (AnBib 133; Rome 1995) 238, n. 134. 9 I find Minissale persuasive in general, though I think 5,13 may be an exception to this characterization. A. MINISSALE, “The metaphor of ‘falling’: Hermeneutic key to the Book of Sirach”, The Wisdom of Ben Sira. Studies on Tradition, Redaction, and Theology (eds. A. PASSARO – G. BELLIA) (DCLS 1; Berlin 2008) 256.