Return to the Most High and turn away from iniquity: The word iniquity is the only difference between Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation (“sin”) in this line. The Most High refers, of course, to God’s majesty and power, not to his size or height (see the comments on 4.10). Turn away from iniquity is the same as “forsake your sins” in the previous verse.

At this point some Greek manuscripts insert a line that is translated in the Revised Standard Version footnote (for he will lead you out of darkness to the light of health). Some modern versions follow Revised Standard Version in this, while others leave it out. This Handbook will omit it. Translators who wish to include it will probably find Revised Standard Version‘s translation easy enough to follow.

And hate abominations intensely: Good News Translation is good here, but we may also say “Have an intense hatred for anything that is wicked” or “Have an intense hatred for anything that he [the Lord] hates.” The noun translated abominations (which is singular in Greek) can have the meaning of something detested by God (see the comments on 1.25). New English Bible and New Revised Standard Version take this course, saying “what he [the Lord] abhors.” Another possibility, supported by Luís Alonso Schökel, is that the word here means “idolatry.” And there are cases where the noun has that meaning (for example, Mark 13.14, where Revised Standard Version renders it “sacrilege”). The corresponding Hebrew term is often used in the Old Testament with reference to idols (for example, Jer 13.27). For this whole verse Luís Alonso Schökel has “return to the Most High, keep yourself far away from injustice and hate idolatry from the bottom of your heart.” This gives the verse a reference to the Ten Commandments. Rendering abominations as “idolatry” is tempting, and translators will be on good ground in doing it, but we feel we must recommend as a more conservative course “anything that he hates.”

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.