I opened my mouth and said: What follows from here to verse 28 is ben Sira’s advice to the person who lacks wisdom and yet wants to learn. For this line Good News Translation is good, but it could also be translated “Here is my advice” (Contemporary English Version).

Get these things for yourselves without money: Revised Standard Version‘s footnote explains that these things is added for translational reasons. Good News Translation expresses the meaning of this line well. A more specific rendering is “It costs no money to become wise.” Another slightly different approach is “You can become wise without spending money.”

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.