Do not winnow with every wind: Verses 9-10 urge firmness of opinion. Winnowing is a farming practice, in which grain is thrown upward into a breeze. The wind carries off the hard, inedible husks of the grain, while the heavier, edible grain falls back. Every wind probably refers to a changeable wind. There would be no point in trying to winnow grain if the wind might reverse and blow the husks right back. Contemporary English Version brings out the meaning of this line clearly with “Not every wind is good for blowing away husks from threshed grain.”
Nor follow every path: It would be just as foolish to take any road while traveling if you were going somewhere in particular. New American Bible reads “and start not off in every direction.” Contemporary English Version has “And not every path leads where you want to go.” The first two lines of verse 9 are warnings against expressing agreement with everyone, and in many languages these comparisons with natural elements will be easily understood by readers. In such cases Contemporary English Version may serve as a model. Good News Translation makes no attempt to preserve the comparisons with winnowing grain in a changeable wind and following any path, and expresses these lines well with “Don’t try to please everyone or agree with everything people say.” Notice that Good News Translation has reversed verses 9 and 10 and combined the numbers. This is not because it is mixing elements of the two verses, but because of a sense that verse 10 will lead more easily into verse 9. It is not necessary to reverse the order of these verses, but translators may want to see which sounds better to them.
The double-tongued sinner does that: Good News Translation omits this line, as do New English Bible and New Revised Standard Version. It is not in the Hebrew, and may possibly have been added by a scribe thinking of 6.1, where the line does occur. Since it is in the Greek, the Handbook suggests translating it in the text, as does Revised Standard Version. The Greek word rendered double-tongued refers to someone who says whatever he thinks the person listening to him wants to hear. Such a person does exactly what the first two lines of verse 9 warn against. An alternative model is “But a sinner will say anything that will please the person listening to him.”
Be steadfast in your understanding, and let your speech be consistent is literally “Be steadfast in your understanding, and let your word be one.” Alternative translations are “Let people know where you stand, and be consistent in what you say,” “Stand up for what you believe, and don’t change what you say from one time to the next” (Contemporary English Version), and even “Come to firm conclusions and express them consistently and reliably.” Good News Translation‘s translation of verse 10 is the first sentence of its combined verses 9-10: “Be certain about what you believe and consistent in what you say.” New English Bible is also good with “Stand firmly by what you know and be consistent in what you say.”
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.