This verse is intended as an illustration of verse 2. Compared to a large bird, a bee is very small, but the bee produces the sweetest stuff there is. The implied lesson is that a person may be ugly, but have hidden virtues that make him or her outstanding.

The bee is small among flying creatures: Good News Translation makes the comparison between the bee and other winged creatures explicit: “Compared to most flying things….” In ancient Israel no distinction was made between insects that flew and birds or bats; they were all classified as flying creatures. If it will sound strange in a language to compare bees to all flying things, translators may follow Contemporary English Version, which says simply “The honeybee is very small.”

But her product is the best of sweet things: Good News Translation introduces “honey,” which does not occur in the text, by rendering her product as “the honey it makes.” For the whole line Contemporary English Version has “but it makes the sweetest food.”

There needs to be some word or phrase in this verse to help the reader realize that the writer is comparing the worth of the bee to that of the person who may be unattractive; for example, the whole verse may be rendered as follows:

• And a bee is very small, though it makes the sweetest 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.