Glorify the Lord generously: Good News Translation “Praise the Lord by making generous offerings” does not work well. “Praise” implies speech, which is not involved here. New English Bible translates “Be generous in your worship of the Lord,” but an even better rendering is “When you worship the Lord, give a generous offering to him.” “Generous” is a good translation of the literal “with a good eye,” which is a Hebrew idiom. It occurs again in verse 10.

And do not stint the first fruits of your hands: To stint means to hold back or restrict. The Greek verb here literally means “to make little.” The Greek word translated first fruits is used in other places in the Greek Old Testament to translate a term for a voluntary offering. The first fruits of your hands is a phrase found in the Greek of Deut 12.11 and 17, where the Hebrew refers, not specifically to first fruits, but to a voluntary offering. (The Hebrew idiom of your hands means “which you bring.”) We think it reasonable to assume that the author and his Greek translator have this in mind here. New American Bible translates it “freewill gifts.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• When you worship the Lord, be generous, and don’t bring him any stingy offerings.

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.