It is not right to despise an intelligent poor man: To despise is to look down on, to treat with scorn and contempt. Well-to-do people might look down on poor people, but intelligence outweighs poverty. Intelligent people deserve respect, regardless of their wealth or poverty.

Nor is it proper to honor a sinful man: This line is parallel to the first one. If wisdom is to be respected, and if the beginning of wisdom is serving the Lord, then the sinner has not taken the first step toward deserving respect (compare verse 12). A sinful man may also be expressed as “a person who disobeys God’s commands.”

Contemporary English Version has a good model for this verse:

• Don’t look down on those
who are wise but poor,
and don’t honor sinners.

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.