It is ill-mannered for a man to listen at a door: “Eavesdropping” (Good News Translation) describes someone hiding to listen to people talk without their knowing he is present. Ben Sira says this is ill-mannered (Good News Translation “bad manners”). A possible alternative model for this line is “A person who stands outside the door to your house and tries to hear what people inside are saying is ill-mannered.”

And a discreet man is grieved by the disgrace: Good News Translation translates a discreet man as “anyone with a sense of decency.” Good News Translation “would be ashamed” combines grieved and disgrace. The disgrace is eavesdropping, which is made clear by the phrase “to do it” in Good News Translation.

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.