Sovereignty passes from nation to nation on account of injustice and insolence and wealth: The author knows history. He knows that from time to time a nation will rise to a position of power and dominate other nations, until eventually, that nation loses its power and influence, and some other nation will rise to take its place as a dominant force in world politics. Ben Sira thinks that this happens because the nation on top (1) acts in its own self-interest whether it is fair to others or not (injustice), (2) thinks of itself as better than other nations and lets them know it (insolence), and (3) amasses wealth. Since the abstract idea of Sovereignty passing from one nation to another is a rather complex idea, Good News Translation allows the simpler concepts of “Injustice, arrogance, and wealth” to be the subjects of the sentence, and it uses two verbs for the idea of the rise and fall of nations: “… cause nations to fall from power, and others then rise to take their place.” However, we may reorder the elements of this verse as follows:

• Enemies will conquer nations that are unjust, arrogant, and wealthy.

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.