Translation commentary on Sirach 51:23

Good News Translation‘s paragraph break here is appropriate.

Draw near to me, you who are untaught, and lodge in my school: Compare Pro 9.1-6, where Wisdom offers such an invitation. Here it is ben Sira’s invitation to his readers to learn from what he has written. You who are untaught could be moved to the beginning of the verse and translated as a question: “Do you need to learn?” The Greek word translated lodge means “to find a shelter, a home.” It was used in 14.26 (where Revised Standard Version has “camp”) and 24.7. School is literally “house of instruction,” which means a school, but it is not to be taken literally as a building, so the last line could be translated “and learn from what I can teach you.” An alternative model for the whole verse is:

• Do you need to learn? If so, come to me, and learn from what I can teach 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.

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