He has compassion on those who accept his discipline: Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version render the verb has compassion in the future tense, which is possible. The idea is that God customarily has this attitude; it is his nature to have compassion on those who accept his discipline. For the whole line Contemporary English Version says “If we pay attention when he corrects us … he will be merciful.”

And who are eager for his judgments: Good News Translation expresses well the content of his judgments with “him to show us where we are wrong.” Another possible approach for the whole line is “and are eager to obey him.”

It is possible to reorder the clauses of this verse as follows:

• If we pay attention when he corrects us, and if we are eager to obey him, he will have compassion on [or, be merciful to] us.

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.