Wine and women lead intelligent men astray: Wine is an alcoholic drink made by fermenting grape juice (see 9.9). In this context a more general word for alcoholic drinks may be used. Good News Translation offers a good translation of this line, saying “Wine and women make sensible men do foolish things.” Contemporary English Version is also good with “Even a wise man can be deceived by wine and women.”

And the man who consorts with harlots is very reckless: Compare 1 Cor 6.16. Harlots are prostitutes. Consorts with may be translated “patronizes,” “does business with,” or simply “goes to” (Good News Translation; Contemporary English Version “visit”). A man who visits prostitutes is very reckless, taking no thought of the consequences of his actions. The Greek adjective rendered very reckless may also be translated “gets more and more careless” (Good News Translation).

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.