Some of them he blessed and exalted: This means that the Lord showed favor to some (blessed) and made them into great people (exalted). An alternative model here is “The Lord showed favor to [or, was kind to] some people and made them great.”

And some of them he made holy and brought near to himself: Good News Translation combines the first two lines of this verse, so that the exalted and those who are made holy are the same people. We doubt this is correct. The first line is talking about people who become great and honored. This line is talking about people who are religious, who may or may not be great and honored. It could be rendered “and others he made his own people, and stayed close to them.”

But some of them he cursed and brought low, and he turned them out of their place: The two verbs cursed and brought low are the opposites of the verbs blessed and exalted in the first line. Cursed means to “call down evil upon” (see the comments on 3.9). Turned them out of their place is an expansion of brought low. The same people are involved here, and we could join the two lines this way: “Others he cursed [or, called down evil upon], humbling them by removing them from their positions.” Their place does not necessarily refer to an important position. The last line simply says that some people lose whatever standing in the community they once had.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• The Lord showed favor to some people and made them great. He made others his own people, and stayed close to them. But he called down evil upon some other people, humbling them by removing them from their positions.

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.