Stand in the assembly of the elders: The verb stand may be meant by the author in a literal sense, but the point is that the reader is advised to be in the company of the elders. Assembly is literally “multitude.” Good News Translation takes the term elders to mean literally “old people.” If we grant that, Good News Translation offers a good translation. However, elders usually refers to people in authority, and while they might actually be older than most people in the community, it is their authority that is referred to. The phrase assembly of the elders appears again in 7.14, where it is used in a context involving prayer. This would suggest that here we are thinking of the elders of the synagogue, especially since in the next verse ben Sira mentions religious discourse. We would suggest rendering this line as “Go where the community leaders gather” or “You should spend a lot of your time in the company of community leaders [or, people in authority].”

Who is wise? Cleave to him: This means to find someone whose wisdom you respect, and stay with him, keep his friendship, always be ready to learn from him. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation assume that this wise person is a male by using the pronoun him. We may be sure this is what ben Sira was thinking of—he did not have great respect for women—but the language here can be phrased inclusively by saying “Stay close to people who are wise.”

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.