He that is inexperienced knows few things is rendered by Contemporary English Version as “If you have few experiences, you won’t learn much.” This says of the inexperienced person the opposite of what is said of the well-traveled person in verse 9a. Good News Translation rewords this line and the next one in the second person.

From this point to the end of chapter 36 there is variation among the versions in verse numbers. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are numbered one way. Ziegler’s Greek text is numbered another way. (The next line is verse 11 in Ziegler). Rahlfs’ Greek text is numbered still another way. Since Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are the basis for this Handbook, we shall follow the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation verse numbers for simplicity’s sake. Some translators may wish to follow Ziegler’s numbers, which we shall give in square brackets.

But he that has traveled acquires much cleverness: New Jerusalem Bible has a good model here with “but the travelled man is master of every situation.” The word “clever” in Good News Translation is all right, but it would be better to say “resourceful.” Another possible model for this line is “but travel can teach you how to handle any situation.”

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.