Wisdom will praise herself, and will glory in the midst of her people: Verses 1-2 explain to the reader that the speaker in verses 3-22 is Wisdom, presented as female figure. Good News Translation helps the reader further by calling on the reader to “Listen to Wisdom!” (New English Bible “Hear the praise of wisdom from her own mouth.”) Good News Translation expresses the ideas in praise and glory as “proudly sings her own praises.” The verb “sings” is appropriate to the poetic form, and alerts the reader to this. The Revised Standard Version footnote gives an alternate translation for the second line, which is actually preferable. Good News Translation adopts this interpretation and so does New Revised Standard Version, which says “and tells of her glory in the midst of her people.” Her people refers to the Israelites (verses 8-12), and Good News Translation makes this explicit by saying “among the Israelites, her own people.” In languages that have not personified Wisdom in previous chapters, it will be difficult to avoid it here in this chapter (see the comments on 1.1). We suggest that translators include a footnote at the beginning of this chapter explaining that the author is personifying Wisdom as a woman. Perhaps a translator may capitalize Wisdom or “Understanding” here and render the whole verse as follows:

• Wisdom may be compared to a woman who proudly praises herself and tells about her greatness among the Israelites, her own people.

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.