ABSTRACT The article presents two interconnected issues: the modified comprehension of Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible at the present moment and the study and interpretation of the Septuagint (LXX) in this new context. For a long time, the Masoretic Text (MT) has been considered as the main textual witness of the “original” Hebrew text. However, the renewed attention for the LXX, the revalorization of the ancient versions and especially the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrew witnesses far older than the MT, eventually confirming variant readings in the LXX, raise the question whether we should speak about the convergence of the main and the best textual witnesses rather than about an “original text”. Concerning the LXX, actually, attention is given to the subjacent Hebrew variants and the “redactional” activity of the translator. LXX should no longer be seen as the “ancilla hebraicae veritatis”, but rather as an autonomous version and a highly valuable witness within a multiplicity of pluriform textual evidences.

RÉSUMÉ L’article traite de deux questions étroitement liées: la compréhension changée de la critique textuelle de la Bible aujourd’hui, et l’étude ainsi que l’interprétation de la Septante (LXX) dans le cadre de cette situation changée. Pendant longtemps le Texte Massorétique (TM) a été considéré comme le témoin principal du texte hébraïque « originel », mais l’attention dédiée à la LXX, la révalorisation des versions anciennes et, surtout, la découverte des manuscrits de la mer Morte, qui constituent des témoins hébraïques bien antérieurs au TM et confirmant quelques fois la LXX, posent la question s’il faut parler d’un texte originel ou d’une convergence de meilleurs témoins. Quant à la LXX, actuellement, on prête attention aux variantes hébraïques sous-jacentes et à l’activité « rédactionnelle » du traducteur. La LXX n’est plus simplement la « ancilla hebraicae veritatis » mais un précieux témoin autonome au sein d’une multiplicité pluriforme de preuves textuelles.

After a general introduction to the idea of Biblical Wisdom as wisdom of life, the present contribution will introduce three crucial concepts thereof: "righteousness, " "fear of the Lord" and "blessing. " These concepts will be dealt with in the context of both an immanent and transcendent orientation of Biblical wisdom. Thereafter, and against the background of the book Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach, this Biblical wisdom will be concretely illustrated. As wisdom pertains to many aspects of daily human life, the text will be presented on the basis of a florilegium of a number of pericopes which are related to the varying facets of human life in its search for meaning and happiness.