My soul grappled with wisdom: Good News Translation‘s rendering here does not mean “I fought on behalf of Wisdom” but “I fought to obtain Wisdom.” Another possible model is “I struggled hard to become wise.”

And in my conduct I was strict: Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation appear to give a straightforward translation of the Greek text. New Jerusalem Bible, however, sees a textual problem here and translates “I have been scrupulous in keeping the Law” (similarly An American Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, La Bible Pléiade). The word “Law” is only a conjecture; although it is adopted by both Rahlfs and Ziegler, it appears in no Greek manuscript. (But compare 19.20. The difference in Greek is only the presence or absence of two letters. The Hebrew text is altogether different.) We prefer to stay with the Greek text, following Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. We do not believe the Greek is unusual enough to merit a note saying the meaning of the Greek is unclear.

I spread out my hands to the heavens, and lamented my ignorance of her: Spreading out one’s hands toward heaven was a traditional posture of prayer. Good News Translation “When I prayed” expresses the meaning adequately. The last line indicates that in prayer, the author confessed to God how lacking in wisdom he was. Good News Translation has good idiomatic English here, but it will be difficult as a model for many languages. Perhaps we could say “and said to the Lord, ‘I am sorry I know so little of Wisdom.’ ” For the last two lines we could translate “When I prayed, I would sadly admit to the Lord how little wisdom I had.”

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.