Do not get up and leave an insolent fellow …: Get up and leave translates a single Greek verb, which Good News Translation interprets in the same way: “get up and walk out.” It may indeed mean this, in which case the warning is not to become angry, walk out, and leave yourself undefended. However, another approach is more likely. The first line in this verse probably means “Do not let yourself get excited and upset by someone who is insolent.” If you do, you may say something rash and unwise, something you will regret. An insolent person is someone who is rude and disrespectful.

Lest he lie in ambush against your words: The insolent person is just waiting for you to say something he can trap you with—in your presence, not in your absence. New Jerusalem Bible provides a better approach than Good News Translation or Revised Standard Version for this whole verse by saying: “Refuse to be provoked by the insolent, for fear that such a one try to trap you in your words.” The phrase “trap you in your words” may be a strange picture to translate in some languages. In such cases we may say the following:

• Don’t let an insolent [or, arrogant] person make you angry. He might try to turn your own words against you.

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.