Do not be like a lion in your home: We have no way of knowing how much ben Sira knew about the habits of lions. In his day lions still roamed remote parts of Palestine, and he may have known a few things. Male lions tend to be rather lazy animals in spite of their ferocious aspect and in spite of the viciousness they are capable of. They are perfectly content to let the female of the species do most of the hunting and spend their time lying in the shade. Male lions would not generally be considered good role models for human males. It may be, though, that the author is simply talking about the ferocity or fierce behavior of male lions. He has a lot to say about being careful and restrained in our speech in public dealings. Here he makes the point that the wise man is not going to come home and let off steam by roaring at his family. In cultures where lions are unknown, translators may say “When you are home, don’t continually yell [or, roar] at your family,” or even “Don’t act like a wild animal when you are home.”

Nor be a faultfinder with your servants: The Greek uses a rare word here for faultfinder and we do not know what is meant by it. We can only say that it has something to do with acting out fantasies. The two best possibilities for this line are Good News Translation “Don’t … be suspicious of your servants” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version) and New English Bible “Do not … swagger among your servants.” The Handbook prefers the New English Bible interpretation, since it fits in better with the first line of the verse. Another way to express this is “Don’t act in a proud way in front of your servants.”

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.