Wild asses in the wilderness are the prey of lions may be rendered “Lions hunt down and eat the wild donkeys that live in the open country.” Some translators may need to refer to Wild asses as “wild horses.” The focus here is on the lions as predatory meat eaters rather than the identity of their prey. Wilderness is open, relatively uninhabited country—not “Desert” (Contemporary English Version), which normally is understood to be a region of mostly sand.

Likewise the poor are pastures for the rich: The author has a problem with his imagery here. Donkeys (the poor) use pastures, not lions (the rich). The author intends to say “likewise the poor are like pastures full of prey for the lions.” New Revised Standard Version offers a better translation: “likewise the poor are feeding grounds for the rich.” If any reader has missed the point that ben Sira has been making in the last two verses, it is made clear here.

Good News Translation‘s combination of these two lines into one statement works well, although Good News Translation, by speaking only of the rich (the lions) “hunting down” the poor (the donkeys), misses the other element here in the idea of “prey,” that the lions kill the donkeys. Of course, rich people may not actually kill the poor and certainly do not eat them. But they may indeed live off them, and that’s the point. Perhaps the point could be made a bit clearer by saying:

• Rich people live off the poor just like lions live off the wild donkeys that they hunt down in the open country and eat.

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.