If you are overstuffed with food is literally “And if you have been forced with food” or “And if you have suffered violence because of food.” Some take this to mean “forced to eat too much,” but Good News Translation has a more satisfying explanation. It takes “suffered violence because of food” to refer to physical symptoms of distress: “If you do get a stomach ache from eating too much [in spite of the advice in verse 20].” We recommend this approach. We could also say “But if you do find yourself in pain from overeating.”

Get up in the middle of the meal, and you will have relief: Good News Translation adopts the reading of other Greek manuscripts (as well as the Hebrew) in translating “go off and vomit and you will feel better.” This is surely correct. We urge translators to follow Good News Translation, with no footnote. Ben Sira is not referring here to the Roman practice of getting up during a meal and vomiting so that the person could come back and eat some more. He isn’t speaking of getting up from the meal at all. He is thinking of sometime after the meal, when the unfortunate person feels physical pain. His advice to go somewhere and vomit is simply practical advice. There’s no point in suffering unnecessarily; vomit and get it over with.

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.

And give good heed to your paths: As the footnotes in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation indicate, the Greek text says “and beware of your children.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both read the Hebrew. But actually, the Hebrew is more complicated than the notes indicate. The Hebrew of verses 21-22, which are longer than in Greek, appears to read “Do not be confident on the road, because of robbers, and beware of what is behind you; do not be confident on the road of the wicked, and be careful of your paths.” This seems to be a caution against being robbed while traveling, warning us to make sure no one is following us, or sneaking up behind us. The Hebrew words translated here “what is behind you” and “your paths” are confusingly similar. The versions that claim to read the Hebrew for this verse are actually reading a shortened and emended Hebrew text. However, the Hebrew phrase rendered “beware of what is behind you” can also be interpreted as “beware of your children.” (A similar problem occurs in 11.28.) This almost surely accounts for the Greek text, but we doubt it is what the author had in mind. We think he meant “beware of what is behind you,” and as in verse 20, is using the imagery of travel in a figurative sense.

Neither the Greek nor the Hebrew of verses 21-22 can be used with confidence. The Greek meaning is unclear and the Hebrew text may have suffered changes. The following suggested model is an approach that fits the context, and is as close to the Greek and Hebrew as anything else:

• Always be alert when you are in unfamiliar territory; guard yourself against unexpected surprises—there are robbers out there.*
* Hebrew guard … out there; verses 21 and 22 are unclear in both Greek and Hebrew.

The translation of verse 22 is essentially a translation of the first half of the verse in Hebrew, without emendation. (The second half is merely a less colorful repetition of the first half.) We are translating “what is behind you” as “unexpected surprises.” The clause “there are robbers out there” translates a single Hebrew word, which is itself a bit of a problem. Translators who wish may omit the clause, but our feeling is that if we use the Hebrew for the line we may as well use all of it. We believe that in English, readers could easily understand the translation offered here as travel imagery with figurative meaning. Translators who feel they must choose between the imagery and the meaning should abandon the imagery in these verses and express the meaning as follows:

• When you are doing something you have never done before, always be alert, and guard yourself against unexpected surprises—there are many dangers out there.

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.

As one who catches at a shadow and pursues the wind, so is he who gives heed to dreams: Good News Translation is good here. An alternative model is:

• A person who believes that what they see in dreams is real is like someone who tries to catch shadows or chase the wind.

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.

Glorify the Lord generously: Good News Translation “Praise the Lord by making generous offerings” does not work well. “Praise” implies speech, which is not involved here. New English Bible translates “Be generous in your worship of the Lord,” but an even better rendering is “When you worship the Lord, give a generous offering to him.” “Generous” is a good translation of the literal “with a good eye,” which is a Hebrew idiom. It occurs again in verse 10.

And do not stint the first fruits of your hands: To stint means to hold back or restrict. The Greek verb here literally means “to make little.” The Greek word translated first fruits is used in other places in the Greek Old Testament to translate a term for a voluntary offering. The first fruits of your hands is a phrase found in the Greek of Deut 12.11 and 17, where the Hebrew refers, not specifically to first fruits, but to a voluntary offering. (The Hebrew idiom of your hands means “which you bring.”) We think it reasonable to assume that the author and his Greek translator have this in mind here. New American Bible translates it “freewill gifts.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• When you worship the Lord, be generous, and don’t bring him any stingy offerings.

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.

A woman will accept any man: This is not saying that women have no morals and will have sex with any man who comes along. This is a statement of what for ben Sira’s time was a simple truth. A woman had little choice in who married her. She simply had to accept whatever marriage arrangements were worked out for her. So we may say “A woman cannot choose the man she will marry” (Contemporary English Version).

But one daughter is better than another: A man, however, had a choice concerning whom he married, therefore he could be choosy. Among the girls who were available, some would be better than others, and he could pick the one he liked best.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• A woman has to accept any man as her husband, but a man can choose the girl that he thinks is best.

Note the similarity of this verse to verse 18.

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.

For not everything is good for every one, and not every person enjoys everything: People are different as to what kind of food agrees with them and as to what kind of food they like. In English idiom, food that agrees with a person is food that does not make that person sick. A possible alternative model is:

• Some food will make you feel sick. No one likes every kind of food.

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.

He moulds the clay with his arm: It might sound strange at first to refer to shaping the clay with the arms rather than the hands, but it is not. Potters have strong arms. When the clay is being turned and shaped, a great deal of physical strength is required in the arms to keep the spinning mass of clay centered. It is not simply a matter of moving the fingers to shape the clay. “Shape it with his hands” (Good News Translation) is acceptable, however, since this line is describing the first stage in producing the pot. In languages where the word for “arm” includes the hand, Revised Standard Version‘s translation would make sense. But in other languages the word for “hand” should be used.

And makes it pliable with his feet: Good News Translation places this line before the previous one since the two tasks in these lines seem to be out of order. The clay has to be worked, homogenized (which could be done with the feet), or “wedged,” worked with the hands in order to remove air, before it is worked on the wheel. It may be that makes it pliable with his feet is not the meaning at all, and the two tasks are not out of order. Four stages of the potter’s work are described in the four lines of this verse, and if this line is out of order, it is the only one. The line literally says “and before/for feet he breaks its/his strength.” New English Bible takes the strength to be the potter’s: “crouching forward to apply his strength.” This is appealing. Most, however, take the strength to be that of the clay, and the potter to be breaking it by making it pliable enough to work on the wheel; in ancient times this was done with the feet (see Isa 41.25). But it takes a lot of good will to get with, “by means of,” out of the Greek preposition used here. In between the shaping of the pot on the wheel (line 1) and the glazing (line 3), there is another step. It is a delicate procedure that must be done with great care. When the pot has been shaped, the wet clay is still stuck to the wheel, and must be removed. This is done with an object such as a stiff stout cord. Deftly and quickly, the cord must be drawn through the base of the pot near the wheel. The “foot” of the pot is then trimmed by carefully removing unwanted bits of clay. We will suggest that this is what ben Sira is talking about for the first two lines: “He shapes the pot with his hands, then removes it from the wheel and forms its base.”

He sets his heart to finish the glazing, and he is careful to clean the furnace: For sets his heart and is careful, refer to the comments on verse 26. After the pot has been fired, it is glazed, if the piece is to have any decorative value. The glaze is a liquid that is applied like paint. Artistry is involved at this stage as well as in the shaping of the pot. Good News Translation “properly” is a good translation for to finish. In cultures where the glazing process is unknown, it will be helpful to render the third line as “He takes great pains to put color on the pot and bake it properly in the kiln [or, stove/furnace].” After the glazing, the pot is heated again to fix the glaze. Cleaning the kiln, or furnace, is a task that could well be done at the end of the day. There would be ashes from the wood burned, drippings from glazes, and unfortunately, some broken pots.

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.