Those who fear the Lord will form true judgments: Form true judgments (literally “find judgment”) may mean “know what is right” (Good News Translation), but it can mean “receive justice [from the Lord]” or “discover his will” (Revised English Bible). This cannot be decided without first looking at the next line.

And like a light they will kindle righteous deeds: There are two problems here: (1) Whose righteous deeds are these, the Lord’s, those of people who fear the Lord, or those of other people? (2) Is righteous deeds the subject or object of the verb in this line? Revised Standard Version takes righteous deeds to be the object and these deeds to be either those done by people who fear the Lord or by other people inspired to do so. New English Bible understands righteous deeds to be those of the Lord, and makes it the object by saying “Those who fear the Lord … will make his decrees shine out like a lamp.” Good News Translation takes righteous deeds to be the subject, but thinks it refers to deeds done by people who fear the Lord, that is, their righteous deeds will shine like a light.

This verse is a “mix and match” situation. Almost any interpretation of line 1 can be matched with almost any interpretation of line 2. The Handbook believes that Good News Translation has a sound approach, and we recommend following it. The last line, literally translated along this line, would be “and [your] righteous deeds will shine like a light.” The light metaphor is not difficult, and some translators will want to keep it. Good News Translation has sacrificed the metaphor, and translates “and you will be famous for your fairness.” “Fairness” translates the Greek word for righteous deeds, but “fairness” is only part of its meaning. We could also say “honesty” or “integrity,” or even use two of these words together for the Greek word here.

An alternative model for the verse is:

• If you obey [or, honor] the Lord, you will know the right things to do and will be well-known [or, famous] for your integrity [or, fairness].

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.