He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who sets a snare will be caught in it: Compare Psa 7.15; 9.15-16; Pro 26.27a; Eccl 10.8a. This verse describes two different types of traps: a camouflaged pit that the victim will fall into, and a device of some kind (snare) in which the victim will become trapped or entangled. Good News Translation combines the two lines of this verse by using the general term “traps” for both a pit and a snare. Nothing important is lost by doing this. But other possible models for this verse are:

• People fall into pits that they dig to trap [wild] animals, and they get caught in the traps that they set.

• People dig pits and set traps to catch animals, but [sometimes] they fall into those pits, and get caught in their own traps.

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.