Do not argue about a matter which does not concern you: We get into enough trouble arguing over things that do concern us. It’s just common sense to stay out of other arguments. Good News Translation translates this line very well. “Something that is none of your business” is a common English idiom for a matter which does not concern you. Contemporary English Version uses the same idiom and connects this line with the previous verse by saying “If it’s none of your business, then don’t argue with them.”

Nor sit with sinners when they judge a case is literally “and in judgment of sinners do not participate in council.” The phrase “judgment of sinners” is ambiguous. This whole line could mean “do not take part in judging sinners,” people charged with lawbreaking. This is unlikely; people charged with crimes must be judged. It could mean “do not participate in a judgment when the other members of the council are sinners.” This is the interpretation of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. But how could someone do this without showing self-righteousness? A much more likely possibility, we think, is a third approach: “do not get involved with disputes between sinners.” This approach is taken by Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New English Bible, New American Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible. New Jerusalem Bible‘s translation is “do not interfere in the quarrels of sinners.” Another possible model is “do not interfere when sinners are quarreling.”

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.