A man’s enemies are grieved when he prospers: New Revised Standard Version agrees here with Good News Translation in reading the Hebrew of this line by saying “One’s enemies are friendly when one prospers.” The Greek, translated by Revised Standard Version, is clear enough and true enough, but it does not really fit the context. We suggest following Good News Translation: “But when you are successful, your enemies will act like friends” (Contemporary English Version “Even your enemies act friendly when you are well off”). Notice that Good News Translation has reversed the lines in this verse.

And in his adversity even his friend will separate from him: Good News Translation reverses the lines, so it does not have to repeat the idea of adversity, which it represents here simply as “then.” This works pretty well, but translators may wish to preserve the balance in verses 8 and 9 by keeping the original order. The first line in each verse discusses prosperous times, when you cannot tell who your friends are (verse 8) because your enemies are acting like friends (verse 9). The second line of each verse discusses hard times, when enemies stand out (verse 8) and even friends keep their distance (verse 9). It is worth pointing out that ben Sira does not actually say that in hard times all friends will leave you. Translations should not leave that impression. Contemporary English Version solves this problem by using the phrase “true friends” in the second line of verse 9 as follows: “but only true friends stay when trouble strikes.”

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.