Terror and violence will lay waste riches: The problem here is the meaning of the Greek nouns translated Terror and violence (Good News Translation “insolent” and “arrogant”). The first noun is rare, and seems to mean “confusion, panic, intimidation” or such, but it is not clear whether the author means that your riches will be laid waste if you commit acts causing terror or intimidation, or if you have such acts committed against you. The second noun can legitimately be translated in a physical sense (violence) or mental sense (arrogance). Help with the meaning of these terms comes from the next line and the next verse. In the context it is clear enough that ben Sira is talking of powerful oppressors and the poor people whom they oppress (compare Exo 3.9). In that light, these two key nouns can be well translated “cruelty and arrogance” (Luís Alonso Schökel). It also becomes clear that we are dealing here with the self-destructive nature of cruelty and arrogance. The Greek word translated lay waste means “make desolate, make empty.”

Thus the house of the proud will be laid waste: The house of the proud corresponds to riches in the first line. Good News Translation translates “everything he has.” By saying “he may lose everything he has,” Good News Translation is focusing on the result of the sinful action. The reason a proud person will lose everything he has is given in the next verse, which should not be separated from this verse by a paragraph break as Good News Translation has done. These two verses belong together.

Translators with Ziegler’s Greek text must be warned that he has emended the text in the second line to say “uprooted” rather than laid waste. The Handbook suggests that translators ignore this. (However, Good News Translation “lose everything” can be read as a translation of either text.)

The two lines of this verse may be combined, as Good News Translation has done. By adjusting the Good News Translation interpretation, we may then translate:

• People who are cruel and arrogant will lose everything they have.

Or we may be more specific than Good News Translation by mirroring the parallelisms in the first and second lines as follows:

• People who are cruel and arrogant will lose all their riches and even their homes.

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.