Do not answer before you have heard, nor interrupt a speaker in the midst of his words is simple courtesy. Compare Pro 18.13. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version reverse the order of these lines for improved sense: someone is speaking, you are listening and tempted to interrupt, he finishes, then you speak. The meaning of heard in this context is brought out by Good News Translation: “hear what he has to say.” This implies that one is not simply anxiously waiting for the speaker to stop, but that one is listening with respect, trying to understand the speaker’s ideas. Good News Translation‘s model for this verse is a good one.

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.