He that shows mercy will lend to his neighbor: Good News Translation translates this as an imperative: “Be kind enough to lend to your neighbor when he needs help.” The clause “when he needs help” is not in the Greek, but is supplied by Good News Translation to clarify the meaning. It is clearly implied in the situation, as well as in the phrase shows mercy. In some languages it will be necessary in this context to make explicit the object of lend, namely “money”; for example, this line may be rendered “Be kind enough to lend money to your neighbor.” Neighbor here seems to refer to people known to you, not to people in general. For this line New Jerusalem Bible has “Making your neighbour a loan is an act of mercy.”

And he that strengthens him with his hand keeps the commandments: With his hand is a Hebrew idiom and need not be represented in translation (though New Jerusalem Bible is clever with “lend him a helping hand”). Good News Translation states the meaning of the line clearly: “You are keeping the Lord’s commands if you help him.”

Contemporary English Version reverses the order of the lines in this verse as follows:

• Obey God’s Law
about helping your neighbors;
have mercy and lend them money
when they truly need it.

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 paragraph break is appropriate here (so Good News Translation).

He who spoils his son will bind up his wounds: To spoil a child is to pamper him, to give him whatever he wants, to deal with him so gently that he is allowed to get by with misbehavior without being punished. This line is ambiguous, since it is not certain what kind of wounds are being bound up, or whose they are (see the Good News Translation footnote). Are these literal wounds and scratches a little boy might suffer in play? Are these literal or figurative wounds the son has suffered through his own recklessness? Are these figurative wounds the son has caused his father to suffer, by living unwisely? It is also unclear what the relation is between the two parts of this line. Does it mean “If you spoil your son, here is what will happen?” Or does it mean “If you are spoiling your son, this is what you are doing?” This sounds harsh, but we believe that ben Sira is telling fathers here that they should not pamper their sons while they are little, by helping them out every time they get hurt. This interpretation is perfectly consistent with the advice he gives in verses 8-13. An alternative model for this line is “Don’t bandage your son’s wounds every time he hurts himself.”

And his feelings will be troubled at every cry: The author tells fathers that when their son cries out in pain they should be strong within and not be upset.

Both lines of this verse are overstatements. Ben Sira obviously does not mean that serious wounds or serious danger should be ignored, and a translation can guard against being taken that way. A possible model is:

• Don’t bandage your son’s wounds every time he hurts himself, or get upset every time he cries out. You will only spoil him.

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.

Judge your neighbor’s feelings by your own, and in every matter be thoughtful: Good News Translation reverses these lines. It makes a good model, although we would suggest omitting “at the table.” It is implied in context, but it is not in the text, and it limits the usefulness of the verse.

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.

Those who fear the Lord will form true judgments: Form true judgments (literally “find judgment”) may mean “know what is right” (Good News Translation), but it can mean “receive justice [from the Lord]” or “discover his will” (Revised English Bible). This cannot be decided without first looking at the next line.

And like a light they will kindle righteous deeds: There are two problems here: (1) Whose righteous deeds are these, the Lord’s, those of people who fear the Lord, or those of other people? (2) Is righteous deeds the subject or object of the verb in this line? Revised Standard Version takes righteous deeds to be the object and these deeds to be either those done by people who fear the Lord or by other people inspired to do so. New English Bible understands righteous deeds to be those of the Lord, and makes it the object by saying “Those who fear the Lord … will make his decrees shine out like a lamp.” Good News Translation takes righteous deeds to be the subject, but thinks it refers to deeds done by people who fear the Lord, that is, their righteous deeds will shine like a light.

This verse is a “mix and match” situation. Almost any interpretation of line 1 can be matched with almost any interpretation of line 2. The Handbook believes that Good News Translation has a sound approach, and we recommend following it. The last line, literally translated along this line, would be “and [your] righteous deeds will shine like a light.” The light metaphor is not difficult, and some translators will want to keep it. Good News Translation has sacrificed the metaphor, and translates “and you will be famous for your fairness.” “Fairness” translates the Greek word for righteous deeds, but “fairness” is only part of its meaning. We could also say “honesty” or “integrity,” or even use two of these words together for the Greek word here.

An alternative model for the verse is:

• If you obey [or, honor] the Lord, you will know the right things to do and will be well-known [or, famous] for your integrity [or, fairness].

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.

Set your slave to work, and you will find rest: The idea here is that if you keep your slave busy, you can relax, not because the slave is doing your work for you, but because you don’t have to worry about him escaping as long as he is working hard. Good News Translation renders this well with “If you make your slave work, you can set your mind at ease.”

Instead of Set your slave to work, Ziegler’s Greek text reads “Work [him] with discipline.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates this text. The Greek text is not clear here. There are several variants and the Greek text read by most versions, including Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, is a bit odd, but the Hebrew is clear and shows that the translation of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is correct. The Handbook urges translators to ignore Ziegler and follow the majority.

Leave his hands idle, and he will seek liberty may be rendered “If you don’t keep him busy, he will be looking for freedom.”

For this verse we think translators should follow the Greek, as found in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Contemporary English Version has a good model following the Greek:

• If you don’t want trouble,
keep your slaves busy;
otherwise, they will have time
to think about becoming free.

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.

Bear witness to those whom thou didst create in the beginning: The meaning of this line is not certain. What is certain is that grammatically it need not refer to people; it can mean “Bear witness to the things you did in the beginning.” We believe that scholars have been misled here by two factors. For one thing, the reading “people” in the previous line, although mistaken, sets us up to expect people to be meant in the reference here. For another thing, there is an ancient rabbinic idea that before God created the world, certain things already pre-existed (Israel, Torah, the name of Messiah, and so on), and it is easy for someone aware of this idea to see a reference here to Israel as the first of God’s creation. Rather, we suggest that the phrase in the beginning here has the same reference as in verse 11, to the establishment of the Israelites in the land during the time of Joshua. God is called on to reaffirm (Bear witness to) his marvelous deeds at that time by doing it again, establishing Israel on the land again by fulfilling the prophecies that Israel would be restored to the land (next line). This interpretation is consistent with the Hebrew, and gives unity to the two lines of this verse. See the models at the end of the discussion.

And fulfil the prophecies spoken in thy name: This refers to any of the many prophecies of God’s victory over Israel’s enemies. When prophets spoke “in the name of the Lord,” they were speaking on his authority and on his behalf. “Prophets” in a number of languages is expressed as “God’s spokesmen” or “people who proclaim God’s message.” So we may translate this line as “and cause the things to come true that your spokesmen promised.”

A possible model for this verse is:

• Confirm your actions of long ago by fulfilling the promises that the prophets have spoken in your name.

This could be expanded as follows:

• Show the world that you were serious when you gave Israel its land long ago; fulfill the promises that the prophets have spoken in your name.

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 man may be wise to his own advantage: The Greek phrase translated to his own advantage is the same as translated “to himself” in verse 19. This verse then seems to be talking about a person who is unlike the figure of verse 19, one who “is wise in the conduct of his own life” (New English Bible). In our opinion Good News Translation has misunderstood this verse. An alternative model for the first line is “Someone may make wise choices in his life,” or even “… know how to manage his own affairs.”

And the fruits of his understanding may be trustworthy on his lips: There are two textual problems in this line. Instead of trustworthy, some Greek manuscripts read “praiseworthy” (so New Revised Standard Version); neither is reflected in the Hebrew. The Hebrew reads “and the fruit of his understanding is on his back.” “On his back” is legitimately interpreted to mean “on his body.” Ziegler emends the Greek text to read “on his body” instead of on his lips (literally “on his mouth”; the two words could be confused easily in Greek), and further omits trustworthy (or “praiseworthy”), so that his Greek reads the same as the Hebrew.

If trustworthy and on his lips are accepted, this verse can be read in a negative way, as in Good News Translation. New Jerusalem Bible is similar to Good News Translation with “Another considers himself wise and proclaims his intellectual conclusions as certainties.” But New English Bible, reading the same text, has “If a man is wise in the conduct of his own life, his good sense can be trusted when he speaks.” Another way of saying this is “If a person knows how to manage his own affairs, you can depend upon the advice that he gives you.”

We suggest reading on his lips with the Greek manuscripts and “praiseworthy” with some of the Greek manuscripts. We could then translate the verse as follows:

• If a person knows how to manage his own affairs, people will praise him for having good sense.

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.