On Thursday, March 5, the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem hosted a lecture as part of the “ÉBAF Thursdays” series. Fr Jakub Bluj, OP, Doctor of Old Testament Studies at the École Biblique, presented a lecture in English entitled Metamorphoses of an Ancient Text: Different Language Forms of Sir 37:7–15 as a Test Case.
This lecture focused on a phenomenon well known to scholars of ancient texts: the plurality of linguistic forms of the same biblical passage. Fr Jakub examined the passage from Sirach 37:7–15 as a true “test case,” providing insight into how an ancient text could circulate and transform through different linguistic traditions.
The book of Sirach, preserved in several languages and transmitted in various textual traditions, offered a particularly rich terrain for observing these transformations. By comparing the different forms of the text—from Hebrew, Greek, and other ancient traditions—the lecture showed how these variants could shed light on both the history of the text’s transmission and the processes of interpretation that accompanied its reception over the centuries.
Through this specific example, Fr Jakub offered a broader reflection on how biblical texts evolve in the course of their transmission, and on what these “metamorphoses” of the text reveal about the intellectual and religious life of the communities that copied, translated, and interpreted them.
The lecture is now available on our YouTube channel: