But the knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom: The problem here is the phrase the knowledge of wickedness. Does it mean knowing about wickedness (Good News Translation), or does it mean the knowledge possessed by wicked people? In the light of the second line of this verse, we prefer the latter sense. For the whole line we could translate “Wicked people may have [a lot of] knowledge, but this is not wisdom” or “… but that does not make them wise.”

Nor is there prudence where sinners take counsel: This line is grammatically ambiguous. It may be read “The counsel of sinners is not prudence” or “The prudence of sinners is not counsel.” Since the line is so closely parallel to the first one, we believe it should be taken in the second sense, although the meaning is substantially the same in either case: the reasoning of sinners does not provide counsel people should follow. We could translate “What sinners think is smart is never good advice [to follow].”

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.