Fear the Lord and honor the priest: Here ben Sira summarizes verses 29-30, but with different verbs. The usual Greek word for fear is used (see the comments on verse 29), and the word for honor is again a more common one, often translated “glorify,” but well translated as “respect” by Good News Translation. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have rendered priest in the plural, to avoid an ambiguity in the next line.

And give him his portion, as is commanded you: While it is not grammatically clear whether the pronouns him and his refer to the Lord or to the priest, the use of the word portion makes it certain that the reference is to the priest; that is why Good News Translation rendered “priests” in the first line, so that here it can say “them,” and avoid the ambiguity. (For the legislation about the priestly portion, see Num 18.8-20; Deut 18.3-5.) Although the word portion is a technical term for the part of a worshiper’s offering that goes for the support of the priesthood rather than being burned on the altar, it can be adequately translated as in Good News Translation, which renders this line “Supply them with what you have been commanded to give,” or we may say “Supply them with what the Lord has commanded you to give them.”

The first fruits refers to the first of the grain and fruit to be harvested (Num 18.13; Deut 18.4). The guilt offering was an offering made so that God would forgive sin (Lev 5.6; Num 18.9), and may be translated “the sacrifice to atone for sin that you have committed.” The gift of the shoulders refers to the shoulders of the sacrificial animals (Deut 18.3). The sacrifice of sanctification is obscure. It may refer to the grain offerings of Lev 2.14-16. The first fruits of the holy things seems to have no technical distinction from the earlier phrase first fruits (a single word in Greek). Good News Translation collapses these last two items on the list into “all the required sacrifices and offerings,” or we may express this as “all the other offerings and food that you have dedicated to the Lord.” This may seem to be too easy a way out of a problem, but at any rate it does not misrepresent ben Sira’s intent. The small list he gives here in no way approaches the complexity of the laws regarding sacrifices; he is surely speaking in rather general terms, but specific enough to make the point that the Law requires certain things to be given the priests, and the wise man will see that it is done.

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.