"Then came the prophet Elijah, like a fire, his words a burning torch.
He brought a famine on the people and in his zealous love had them reduced in number.
Speaking in the name of the LORD he closed the heavens, and on three occasions called down fire.
How marvelous you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Who could ever boast of being your equal? By the word of the Most High you brought a dead man back to life; you brought kings to destruction and thrust famous men from their beds.
You heard a rebuke at Sinai and sentences of punishment at Horeb; you anointed kings to be avengers and prophets to succeed you.
You were taken up by a whirlwind of flames in a chariot drawn by fiery horses.
It was written that you should be the one to calm GOD's anger in the future, before it broke out in fury, to turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
Happy are those who will see you and those who die in love, for we too shall live. - Sirach 48:1-11
(In this text, as in Malachi 3:23, we find the Jewish belief that Elijah would return in the days of the Messiah. For the Jews, Elijah was the man who raised the dead and who had been preserved from death by GOD. Ben Sira hopes to regain life to see the happy days of salvation.)
On-Site
He brought a famine on the people and in his zealous love had them reduced in number.
Speaking in the name of the LORD he closed the heavens, and on three occasions called down fire.
How marvelous you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Who could ever boast of being your equal? By the word of the Most High you brought a dead man back to life; you brought kings to destruction and thrust famous men from their beds.
You heard a rebuke at Sinai and sentences of punishment at Horeb; you anointed kings to be avengers and prophets to succeed you.
You were taken up by a whirlwind of flames in a chariot drawn by fiery horses.
It was written that you should be the one to calm GOD's anger in the future, before it broke out in fury, to turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
Happy are those who will see you and those who die in love, for we too shall live. - Sirach 48:1-11
(In this text, as in Malachi 3:23, we find the Jewish belief that Elijah would return in the days of the Messiah. For the Jews, Elijah was the man who raised the dead and who had been preserved from death by GOD. Ben Sira hopes to regain life to see the happy days of salvation.)
On-Site
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