Have mercy, O Lord, upon the people called by thy name: For Have mercy, see verse 1. Good News Translation here helpfully brings “Israel” up from the next line, to identify it as the people called by thy name. In the ancient world peoples were known by association with the gods whom they worshiped. Israel would have been known as “the people of the Lord.” So it is possible to translate this line as “Lord, have mercy [or, pity] on Israel. We are known as your people.”

Upon Israel, whom thou hast likened to a first-born son: See Exo 4.22. The Handbook urges translators to follow Good News Translation in reading the alternate Greek text, “whom you called your first-born son,” rather than whom thou hast likened to a first-born son. There is good evidence for this, and no footnote is necessary.

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.