There is great anger when a wife is drunken is literally “Great anger, drunken woman.” We believe that “woman” is a better translation in this context than wife. This line is interpreted in either of two ways: (1) a drunken woman is an angry woman, or (2) a drunken woman makes other people angry. We recommend the latter interpretation; the behavior described in the next line is what offends people. Good News Translation offers a good approach to this line, but for some languages a better model is “A drunken woman makes other people angry.”

She will not hide her shame: Good News Translation “can’t” is better than will not. Shame refers to “shameless behavior” (Good News Translation).

An alternative model for this verse is:

• When a woman gets drunk, she behaves shamelessly and cannot hide it. People who see her become angry [or, disgusted].

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.