And sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods: The word and, which Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version ignore, is actually emphatic, and can be taken to mean either “It also happens that sometimes the priests…” or “Sometimes the priests even….” We recommend the second of these meanings.

The priests here were the “sacrificers” or “intermediaries” between the Babylonian worshipers and their gods (see the comments on Bar 1.7).

Secretly take better renders the Greek than “steal” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). It is rather like the action described in Bel 13 (New American Bible Dan 14.13). The gold and silver here is presumably that which was used in the manufacture of the idols, and not offerings made by worshipers. A clearer picture of what is involved might be produced by translating “Sometimes the priests even secretly take [some of] the gold and silver off their idols.”

Spend it upon themselves; that is, use it for their own purposes. The Greek verb here actually has overtones of lavish spending.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.