Their ways are always before him means “The Lord is always aware of what people do” (Good News Translation). It is good to express the pronoun him with the noun phrase “The Lord,” as in Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version, since this is the beginning of a new section. For the same reason it is also good to use here a noun like “people” instead of the pronoun Their. Otherwise some readers and hearers would have no way of knowing to whom Their refers. But as we have suggested earlier, a first person pronoun is also possible here; for example, the whole line may be rendered “The Lord watches us all the time” or “The Lord always knows what we do.”

They will not be hid from his eyes: The pronoun They refers back to Their ways. Good News Translation expresses the idea of this line, but it shifts the focus a little. The idea is not that we can hide ourselves from God (as Good News Translation seems to say), but that there is no way of hiding what we are doing from him. It would be better to say “They [or, We] cannot hide their [or, our] deeds from him.”

Some manuscripts add verses 16-17a. They should be included in a footnote at the end of verse 15 (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation).

Their ways from youth tend toward evil: Good News Translation has a natural way of expressing this in English, saying “From childhood on they [people] tend to be evil.” Compare Gen 8.21.

And they are unable to make for themselves hearts of flesh in place of their stony hearts is literally “and they have not been able to make their hearts fleshy instead of stony.” Compare Ezek 11.19; 36.26. Hearts of flesh is used here in a positive sense, as opposed to the negative metaphor of stony hearts. The image hearts of flesh is something of a problem in English, so Good News Translation abandons the image and speaks of a heart that is “more human.” The human heart is, of course, a fleshy muscle. To speak of making a stony heart fleshy is thus to speak of making it “more human.” However, ben Sira is making the point that humans tend to be evil from their childhood on. So making their hearts “more human” may give the impression that they become more evil. Contemporary English Version‘s model tends to solve this problem by saying “and have a cruel heart that they cannot change,” or we may say “and their hearts are hard and stubborn and they cannot change them.”

For in the division of the nations of the whole earth: In Greek this line (which echoes Deut 32.8) is part of the sentence that follows in the rest of verse 17. Good News Translation does not attempt to make this evident. It would be better to say “When he divided the whole earth into nations….” The reader will notice that the rest of verse 17 also reflects Deut 32.8-9. This particular line, however, is placed in a footnote for textual reasons. It does not appear to be part of ben Sira’s original writing.

He appointed a ruler for every nation, but Israel is the Lord’s own portion: This reflects Deut 32.8-9, without being an exact quote. Ruler is correct here; it is ben Sira’s interpretation of different (and difficult) wording in the Deuteronomy passage. Good News Translation might have done better to let the second line of this verse reflect its own translation of the Deuteronomy passage, and say “but the Lord chose Israel for himself.” Good News Translation as it stands, however, is not wrong. Contemporary English Version is clear with:

• The Lord placed rulers
over all the nations,
but he himself rules Israel.

Some manuscripts add verse 18. It should be included in a footnote at the end of verse 17 (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation).

Whom, being his first-born, he brings up with discipline: His first-born is Israel. Rather than translate this verse as a relative clause, Good News Translation repeats “Israel,” and makes it the subject of an independent sentence, but it is still complex. A simpler rendering of this line is “Israel is his firstborn, so the Lord corrects and punishes Israel as he brings him up” or “He raises Israel as his own firstborn son, so he corrects and punishes him.” See Deut 8.5; Amos 3.2.

And allotting to him the light of his love, he does not neglect him: Good News Translation renders this well, but it would be better with an introductory “But”: “But he gives him the light of his love and never neglects him.” If the phrase the light of his love is too strange or difficult, we may say “But he shows him his love and never neglects him.”

An alternative model for verse 18 is:

• He raises Israel as his own firstborn son, so he corrects and punishes him. But he shows him his love and never neglects him.

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.