Verse 16 is difficult, and a variety of interpretations is found in the translations. We understand the passage to mean this: Ben Sira reflects on his own place as a writer and collector of wisdom sayings, long after Solomon and the prophets. He came on the scene late. He was like a gleaner, allowed to enter the vineyard after the grape-pickers have done their job, and pick whatever he could find that they had left behind. But the Lord blessed him and gave him success. Although a latecomer, a gleaner, he found so much that he was able to fill his wine press with what he gathered, just as if he had been one of the grape-pickers themselves.

I was the last on watch: The Greek verb translated I was … on watch can also be translated “I woke up,” “I kept watch,” or “I kept my eyes open.” We think Good News Translation has the right meaning with “I have been the last to come on duty.” Good News Translation‘s introductory phrase “As for me” reflects the Greek well, and signals the reader that ben Sira has changed the subject, and is now going to talk about himself. The phrase on watch or “come on duty” may be difficult for some readers to understand. In such cases we may render this line as “As for me, I am the last teacher of wisdom.”

I was like one who gleans after the grape-gatherers: A translator must be careful with this comparison. If our interpretation of the first line is right, this means that the writer can be compared to a gleaner. It does not mean that he was on watch like a gleaner. New Jerusalem Bible has a different understanding of the first line, so it renders the first two lines as follows: “Although the last to come, I have kept my eyes open like a man picking up what the grape-pickers have left.” This makes good sense, but we think it is not the right meaning. The meaning of the second line is rather “I am like a man picking grapes after the other grape-pickers have left.”

From this point to the end of the chapter there is variation among the versions in verse numbers. Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version agree, and we will be following the policy described in the Introduction, using the verse numbers in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Another system is used in Ziegler’s Greek text, and it is coming to be accepted as standard. It is adopted by New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible. We shall place Ziegler’s verse numbers in square brackets where they differ. Ziegler begins verse 17 at this point.

By the blessing of the Lord I excelled: As in line 1, there is a problem with the meaning of the Greek verb here. Instead of I excelled, New Jerusalem Bible has “I have come in first” (similarly New Revised Standard Version), New English Bible says “I arrived in time,” An American Translation translates “I got ahead,” and New American Bible reads “I have made progress.” The Hebrew here has a verb meaning “come or go before,” but “before” is used in the sense of appearing in front of someone or something, not appearing before someone in time. The verb is used in the sense of appearing “before the Lord” in Micah 6.6. It seems reasonable to suggest that this is the meaning intended here, so that the Hebrew for the last two lines of this verse would read “By the blessing of the Lord I also came before him [or, you the reader] and filled my press like a grape-gatherer.” This is more likely than Box and Oesterley’s suggestion that it refers to “advancing in wisdom.” The Greek can simply be interpreted in the light of the Hebrew. A model follows the discussion of the next line.

And like a grape-gatherer I filled my wine press: Ben Sira was not a grape-gatherer, only a gleaner, but he filled his press just as full as the harvesters did—by God’s blessing. The wine press was a device where grapes were placed and squeezed to extract the juice. It may not be necessary to represent that noun if the meaning can be expressed another way; for example, we could render the last two lines of this verse as “But the Lord blessed me, and I was able to offer [him] just as rich a harvest as those who had picked the grapes ahead of me,” or more simply, “But the Lord blessed [or, was good to] me, and I gathered just as many grapes as those who had picked the vines ahead of me.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• As for me, I am the last teacher of wisdom. I am like a man picking grapes after the other grape-pickers have left. But the Lord was good to me, and I gathered just as many grapes as those who had picked grapes ahead of me.

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.