He added glory to Aaron and gave him a heritage: He added glory to Aaron is rendered “he rewarded Aaron again” by Good News Translation. A heritage refers to “a special honor” (Good News Translation) or perhaps better, “a special right,” which is specified in the next lines. It is called a heritage since this right was to be exercised by Aaron’s descendants. So we may render these two lines to begin the verse as follows: “The Lord honored Aaron even more by giving him the right….”

He allotted to him the first of the first fruits: The priests were entitled to eat the offerings brought by the people that were called first fruits, a portion of the earliest harvest. Good News Translation says “first produce,” and Contemporary English Version has “first part of the harvest.” See Num 18.13. The first of the first fruits is an odd phrase not found in Num 18. Most scholars take it to mean “the best of the first fruits” (New Revised Standard Version).

He prepared bread of first fruits in abundance: The Greek of this line is not clear. If first fruits are referred to at all, it is by an unusual expression. We will offer here this model:

• He gave the priests plenty to eat, the bread that was offered to the Lord. *
* He gave … to the Lord; this line is unclear in Greek.

The explanation for this model is a bit complicated. We should first be aware that the Hebrew text is defective at this point, so that we cannot be sure what the original said. There is a word in the Greek which would ordinarily be taken to mean “at first” (compare New Jerusalem Bible “before all else”). In 4.17 this word is used in that sense. The Hebrew of 4.17 is available, so that we know the Hebrew word it translates. Now as it happens, that same Hebrew word is also used in Exo 25.30, along with the word for “bread,” to refer to what Revised Standard Version calls “the bread of the presence,” what Good News Translation calls “the bread offered to God.” If ben Sira was referring to that here, it would make perfect sense in the context, and we can see how the Greek translator could mistake the highly ambiguous Hebrew word. (The Greek Old Testament uses another expression to refer to this special bread. See also Matt 12.4.) The instructions for the use of this bread are given in Lev 24.5-9, although it is not referred to there by a special term. This interpretation is adopted by New American Bible, Box and Oesterley, Luís Alonso Schökel, and Shekan, all of whom usually translate the Hebrew. But interestingly, it is also adopted by An American Translation, which is ordinarily a highly conservative translation of the Greek.

Translators who are not comfortable with the model above may try this:

• so that the priests, in particular, should have plenty to eat. *
* so that the priests … to eat; this line is unclear in Greek.

This is similar to the understanding in Good News Translation and New English Bible (“to ensure that they above all should have bread in plenty”). Good News Translation, however, does not account for the difficult prepositional phrase; here it is translated as “in particular.”

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.