Like a terebinth I spread out my branches: The terebinth is a fairly large tree related to the pistachio; a turpentine-like substance was made from it. In the Hebrew Old Testament there is a tree name that is sometimes translated “terebinth” and sometimes “oak.” Whatever the Hebrew of this passage may have been (it has not survived), the translator definitely rendered it as “terebinth” rather than “oak.” However, the point being made here is that Wisdom is glorious and graceful, and this does not require identity with any particular species of tree. “Terebinth” will be unknown to most people in the world. Good News Translation renders “oak,” a kind of tree that will convey the proper image to most people in English-speaking parts of the Northern Hemisphere, where oaks are generally known. Translators may wish to name a particular tree known to their readers. Or for the whole line they may simply say “Like a great tree, I spread out my branches.” Note that the verb spread is present tense, not past.

And my branches are glorious and graceful is literally “and my branches are branches of glory and grace.” Good News Translation renders the line, without repeating branches, with two adjectives: “magnificent and graceful.” These two adjectives together are long enough to constitute a line by themselves.

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.