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Title: Slips of the Tongue in the Speech Ethics of Ben Sira
Author(s): GREGORY, Bradley C.
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 93    Issue: 3   Date: 2012   
Pages: 321-339
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.93.3.3188762

Abstract :
This article examines the references to slips of the tongue in the speech ethics of Ben Sira. Against the background of Proverbs, this characterization of accidental speech errors represents a new development. Its origin can be traced to the confluence between sapiential metaphors for mistakes in life and the idea of a slip of the tongue in the Hellenistic world. Ben Sira’s references to slips of the tongue are generally coordinated with a lack of discipline, though at least two verses seem to suggest that slips are not always sinful and that they represent a universal phenomenon, found even among the wisest sages.

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