Do not say, “I sinned, and what happened to me?”: The speaker in the quotation is the sinner who notices that everything is the same in spite of his sin. Either the Lord didn’t notice, or he isn’t going to do anything. In order to indicate what the sinner is thinking, Good News Translation puts this line into indirect speech: “Don’t think that you can sin and get away with it.” “Get away with it” is an English idiom meaning “escape without punishment.” Alternative models for the line are “Don’t think that you can sin [or, disobey the Lord] and the Lord won’t punish you” and “And don’t reply, ‘I sinned, but the Lord didn’t punish me’ ” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

For the Lord is slow to anger: The Lord is patient, as his servants are expected to be (1.23). He does not become angry quickly. There is a subtle threat in this short line, which Good News Translation makes clear: “the Lord does not mind waiting to punish you.” Compare Eccl 8.11.

The author will develop the thought in this whole verse further in 16.17-23.

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.