Wisdom exalts her sons and gives help to those who seek her: The problem just spoken of in the introductory comments on this section involves the Greek word translated exalts. Good News Translation correctly translates this “raises … to greatness.” But the Hebrew says simply “teaches.” New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible have adopted this reading. Jerusalem Bible has found a beautiful way to handle this. It translates élève, which can mean “teaches” or “lifts up.” New Jerusalem Bible renders “brings up,” which seems a clever way of trying to duplicate in English what Jerusalem Bible does in French. The problem is that the Greek word does not mean to “bring up” in the sense of “raising” children. It means to “elevate, lift to a high position.” And the Hebrew means “teach.” In this case it is hard to see how the Hebrew explains the Greek, and the Handbook therefore recommends to that translators follow the Greek.

Good News Translation handles the Greek well. Notice that it reverses the lines effectively, since the second line in Good News Translation builds and expands on the first one. The only element of the Greek neglected in Good News Translation is sons. This may be important, since “son” was a keyword in verse 10, and its use here implies that person whom God treats as a son may be called the son of Wisdom. If the second clause in Good News Translation were reworded to say “she raises her children to greatness,” this would, at least for perceptive readers, make the connection.

An alternative model of this verse for those translators who cannot personify Wisdom is:

• The Lord takes care of the people who become truly wise, as if they were his children; he raises them to greatness [or, a high position].

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.