Sirach 40:1 (WEB)
Great travail is created for every man. A heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day of their coming forth from their mother’s womb, until the day for their burial in the mother of all things.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Sirach 40:1 (KJV)
Great travail is created for every man, and an heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother’s womb, till the day that they return to the mother of all things.
Key words
- ἐκ γαστρὸς μητρὸςek gastros mētros · Greek
- 'out of their mother's womb' — the beginning of every human life.
- εἰς μητέρα πάντωνeis mētera pantōn · Greek
- 'to the mother of all things' — the earth, the grave, to which all return. Birth from the womb and burial in the tomb are the two 'mothers' of humanity.
Why it matters
Ben Sira describes human life as running from the mother's womb to 'the mother of all,' the earth that receives the dead. Pitre cites it with Jeremiah 20:17 to show that ancient Judaism paired the womb and the tomb. That pairing lets the Fathers read the virgin birth and the resurrection together: Jesus came forth from a sealed womb and rose from a sealed tomb, and the one is a sign of the other.
Fathers and councils · 3
“…country hath been promised in heaven: this I know, “that the life of man on earth is a temptation;” and that “there is a heavy yoke upon the sons of Adam.”” — editor's note: Ecclus. xl. 1.
Read the whole comment“…“An heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother’s womb till the day that they return to the mother of all things,”—these words so infallibly find fulfillment, that even the little ones, who by the layer of regeneration have been freed from the bond of original sin in which…” — editor's note: Ecclus. xl. 1.
Read the whole comment“For, as far as this life is concerned, the saying of Scripture holds good: “A heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother’s womb, till the day that they return to the mother of all things.”” — editor's note: Ecclus. xl. 1
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 3
Cited together in The Enchiridion Chapter 66.
Cited together in The Enchiridion Chapter 66.
Cited together in The City of God XXI.14.