To a fornicator all bread tastes sweet: This is a way of saying “To such a man [who enjoys nothing but sex] all women are desirable” (Good News Translation).

He will never cease until he dies: Cease is better translated “grow weary.” Good News Translation expresses the meaning of this line better than Revised Standard Version. Contemporary English Version has “and will do so [have sex] until they die.”

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.