Seek not what is too difficult for you may be rendered “Don’t try to understand things that are too hard for you” (Good News Translation), or even “Don’t try to learn things you cannot understand” (Contemporary English Version).

Nor investigate what is beyond your power: This line clearly parallels the first one in meaning. Good News Translation‘s model is helpful. However, some translators may wish to combine the two lines as follows: “Don’t try to learn or investigate things you cannot understand.”

This verse, and the rest of the section, is best understood against its historical background. If we are correct in dating the writing of this book to the early second century B.C., we can understand that ben Sira is reacting against the influence of Greek culture, and of Greek philosophy and science in particular. Our author is a conservative Jew; his thinking is that if something is not revealed in the Law, the Prophets, and the other Writings, people should not inquire after it. Some rabbis even placed the study of some passages in Scripture off limits to anyone but experts—passages such as Ezek 1. The mystical spirituality that some people derived from such passages was far removed from the severely practical nature of ben Sira’s approach to religion.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.