A man skilled in words may be hated; he will be destitute of all food: Even though a person is a good speaker, people can still detest him (possible reasons will be given in the next verse). And if people hate him, he won’t be able to find enough food to live on. In our interpretation Good News Translation should begin “Another person may be clever….” Another model is:

• Another person may speak cleverly [or, well], but will finally starve because people hate him.

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.