Blessed is the soul of the man who fears the Lord!: For Blessed see the comments on 14.1. The soul of the man may be rendered “the person himself,” “People” (Good News Translation), or simply “you” (Contemporary English Version). Any one of these is a good equivalent. Again fears means “honor” or “revere,” not “be afraid.”

To whom does he look? And who is his support?: The implied answer to both of these questions is, of course, “The Lord.” Good News Translation expresses both questions in a single statement: “because they know where they can look for help.”

A possible approach for this whole verse is:

• People who honor the Lord are fortunate; after all, they can look to the Lord for help.

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.