Take care not to be led astray, and not to be humiliated in your feasting: In spite of the first impression given by Revised Standard Version, this verse has nothing much in common with the first line of verse 7. The Greek words for “shame” (verse 7) and be humiliated are different, and the Greek here does not even speak of feasting. The word rendered feasting means “cheer, enjoyment.” Good News Translation provides a good model for this verse. Another possible model is “So be very careful, and don’t let rich people deceive or humiliate you while you are enjoying yourself.”

There is a textual problem in this verse that affects where the paragraph/stanza and section breaks are made. The Greek word translated feasting by Revised Standard Version (really “enjoyment”) is read by all Greek manuscripts except one. That one agrees with the reading of the Latin and Sahidic Coptic sources, and is consistent with the Hebrew, although it does not say exactly the same thing. That reading would change the meaning of the last line to “and not be humiliated because of your stupidity.” If this reading were adopted (and it is adopted by both Rahlfs and Ziegler in their editions of the Greek text), verse 8 would be an appropriate conclusion to the preceding paragraph/stanza and section (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, La Bible Pléiade). The two Greek words involved closely resemble each other. By reading “enjoyment,” verse 8 makes an appropriate introduction to a new paragraph/stanza and section (New Jerusalem Bible and Luís Alonso Schökel, however, read “stupidity” but open a new stanza with verse 8).

The Handbook suggests that translators follow the reading rejected by Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version, and offers this as a model:

• Be careful; you can be misled and humiliated by your own stupidity. *
* Some manuscripts by your own stupidity; other manuscripts while you are enjoying yourself.

Note that Good News Translation gives a misleading impression by separating “be misled” from “find yourself humiliated.” In Greek the words so translated are parallel. They are both introduced by “Be careful” and both use “by your stupidity” (or “in your enjoyment”) to indicate how someone could be both misled and humiliated.

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.