When the rich man speaks all are silent, and they extol to the clouds what he says: This means that people do the rich the courtesy of remaining silent while they are speaking, not interrupting or making a disturbance. Then, when the rich person has said what he wishes to say, his listeners respond by praising him to the clouds (Good News Translation “to the skies”). To praise someone “to the skies” is an English idiom for praising someone extravagantly, offering praise greater than what the person praised reasonably deserves. So we may translate these lines as “When a rich person speaks, everyone keeps quiet. When he has finished speaking, they praise him even more than he deserves.” Another possibility is “Everyone remains silent while a rich person is speaking; but as soon as he has finished, they praise him extravagantly.”

When the poor man speaks they say, “Who is this fellow?”: Who is this fellow? is literally “Who is this?” The impression given here is that people do not even listen to the poor person. They don’t politely listen and then ask their question. Even while the person is speaking, they rudely ask each other, “Who is this?” Revised Standard Version inserts fellow to indicate the rudeness of the question. “Who does this guy think he is?” would be another approach. Or we could say “Who is this jerk?” Good News Translation “Who is that?” leaves the wrong impression; it sounds like the listeners want to know the identity of the person speaking, which is not the point. Either they don’t care who he is, or they do know but think he has no right to be speaking.

And should he stumble, they even push him down: New English Bible is good here with “and if he stumbles, they give him an extra push.” The text literally speaks of someone physically stumbling and being physically pushed down, but once again this is a metaphor. The writer is still talking about speech. The poor person speaks, and people ask who he thinks he is—considering him to be presumptuous. But, if while talking, he happens to say the wrong thing, to say something unintentionally harmful or just stupid, people will use it against him. As the American idiom has it, they will rub his nose in it. One way to express this line would be “And if he should say the wrong thing, people will make it sound worse than it is.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• When a rich person speaks, everyone is silent. When he finishes speaking, they praise him more than he deserves. While a poor person is speaking, they all ask each other, “Who does this fellow think he is?” And if he should say the wrong thing, people will make it sound worse than it is.

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.