A headstrong wife is regarded as a dog: The word headstrong is found at 26.10; see the comments there. Good News Translation offers a strong but appropriate translation for this line: “A self-willed woman is a bitch.” “Bitch” is a highly insulting word when applied to a woman, but it is the technically correct word for a female dog. Even though ben Sira can be negative about women, he probably does not mean to be as insulting as the Good News Translation rendering is in English. Dogs were seen as unclean, perhaps because they came into contact with dead animals. This line may be rendered “People think of a stubborn woman as a dog” or “If a woman is stubborn, people will think no more of her than they do of a dog.”

But one who has a sense of shame will fear the Lord is literally “but one who has shame will fear the Lord.” Good News Translation translates shame as “decency,” which is a good choice. “Modesty” is another option, although the Greek root for shame here is not the same root used for “modest” in verse 24.

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.