Yoke and thong will bow the neck: This refers to the yoke and harness used to control an animal such as an ox (see the illustration at 26.7). Bow the neck means the ox submits to its master’s will. It will be helpful for the translator to make it clear that this line refers to an animal, as in Good News Translation “You can use a harness and yoke to tame an animal” or New English Bible “The ox is tamed by yoke and harness.” If the items yoke and thong (harness) are unknown in a culture, translators may use more general terms; for example, this line may be rendered “You use collars and straps to control [or, tame] an animal.”

And for a wicked servant there are racks and tortures: Good News Translation does not express the word wicked, which itself is a poor choice of words for the context. The point is not that the poor slave is wicked, a sinner in God’s eyes, but that he does poor work or avoids work, a loafer in the master’s eyes. New English Bible describes him as “bad” but Contemporary English Version has “rebellious,” and the latter rendering is probably as appropriate as anything. The Greek uses two nouns, rendered racks and tortures, to describe the means of taming a rebellious slave. Good News Translation uses a verb phrase to explain the meaning of these nouns: “tortured in the stocks.” Racks are instruments of torture. The Greek word suggests something that twists the body. “Stocks” are devices used to confine a prisoner’s ankles, wrists, and head in a painful position. “Stocks” are mentioned in Jer 20.2 among other places in Scripture. The Hebrew here is defective and does not name any such instrument. Perhaps better than trying to describe or name a device of torture would be to express more clearly its purpose by rendering this line as follows: “and a rebellious slave can be tortured into submission,” “and you can make a rebellious slave obey you by torturing him,” or even “and if you torture a rebellious slave, he will obey you.”

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.