With him who fears the Lord it will go well at the end; on the day of his death he will be blessed; that is, when the person who reveres and honors the Lord comes to the end of his or her life, he or she will die a good and honorable death. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version interpret he will be blessed to mean blessed by God, but the author more likely envisions that person being blessed, spoken well of, by those who mourn. The idea of this verse and the preceding one is that if you honor the Lord, the Lord will grant you happiness by means of a long life and afterwards a death where you yourself are appropriately mourned, honored, and well spoken of. In fact, the root meaning of the Greek word translated blessed is “speak well of.” English derives from it the word “eulogize,” meaning to speak well of, especially at a funeral. It should be noticed here that Good News Translation introduces the word “God,” which is very seldom used by our author, who much prefers “the Lord”.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• If you fear the Lord, you will die an honorable death,
and people will eulogize [or, say nice things about] you on the day of your death.

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.