O evil imagination, why were you formed to cover the land with deceit?: Evil imagination (Good News Translation “evil impulse”) refers to the natural tendency to evil that the Jewish rabbis believed all people had. See the comments on 15.14. The expression why were you formed presents two problems: (1) Does the interrogative word here in Greek mean why or the more literal “from where?” New English Bible renders it “how.” (2) The Greek verb here is a rare word having to do with rolling or turning. (It was used in 23.12, where it is rendered “wallow”; see the comments there.) The idea of being formed or “created” (New Jerusalem Bible) is based on a guess that this verse uses the image of pottery being turned on the potter’s wheel. We think this is not convincing. The imagery here is probably the same as in 27.27, where a very similar verb is used, along with the interrogative “from where.” The image in 27.27 is probably related to that in Pro 26.27 (especially in the Greek), that of a stone that comes rolling back on the person who sets it rolling. Behind all of this may be farming imagery. The soil of Palestine is rocky, and land must be cleared of stones before it can be productive. Compare Job 5.23 and Isa 5.2 (see especially Good News Translation). If the Greek verb rendered formed is interpreted to mean “roll,” then the interrogative word does not mean why, but “from where.” Ben Sira may be asking here where the evil impulse we have came rolling out from, leaving deceit everywhere, like the stones that farmers must remove laboriously from a field. (The Hebrew of this verse presents problems of its own; the Greek is safer ground.)

Good News Translation divides the question in this verse into three sentences: an exclamation and two questions. It also words them so that the evil impulse is not being addressed. The Good News Translation model works well, but it needs adjustment in light of the above discussion as follows:

• This evil impulse we have! Where did it come [rolling out] from, covering the earth with lies [like rocks in a field]?

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.