A stubborn mind will be afflicted at the end: Stubborn mind is the meaning of the literal “hard heart.” We are talking here about people who are not willing to change their minds about anything; they are stubborn, obstinate, bullheaded. They have closed minds. Such people, says ben Sira, will sooner or later get into serious trouble; they will wind up in trouble. A possible alternative model is “If you are stubborn, you will end up in trouble” (Contemporary English Version).

And whoever loves danger will perish by it: This line is intended to underscore the point of the previous line. People who play with fire get burned. People who flirt with danger will sooner or later get hurt, even killed. People with closed minds will sooner or later find themselves in trouble. That which is not obvious in the first line is made obvious by the second line. Again Contemporary English Version has a helpful model: “and if you love danger, it will kill you someday.”

Good News Translation expresses the ideas in this verse by using the second person, and making “Stubbornness” the subject of the first sentence. The connection between the two lines could have been expressed in this way:

• Stubbornness will get you into trouble in the end, just as surely as living dangerously will kill you.

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.