A man’s heart changes his countenance, either for good or for evil: The point of this verse is not so much the idea of your expression changing from happy to sad, but that whatever your inmost feelings are will be apparent from your face. Revised Standard Version has a footnote to this verse advising that some manuscripts add an additional line. Most translations, such as Good News Translation, ignore this, and the Handbook suggests that translators do also. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model:

• With one look at your face
anyone can see
if you are happy or sad.

Another possible model is:

• When people look at your face they can see whether you are cheerful or sad.

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.