A rich man does wrong, and he even adds reproaches: The word man here has the sense of “person.” The Greek verb rendered adds reproaches is rare and is translated a number of ways, but the basic meaning of this whole line is “When rich people wrong someone, they can boast [or, be arrogant] about it.” Good News Translation and New English Bible use a familiar English idiom, “add[s] insult to injury.” That works well; it means that the rich person who has wronged people—injured them—compounds his offense by behaving in an insulting manner toward the injured party. Ben Sira is saying that rich people “can afford” (Good News Translation) to do this, that is, they are in a position to do it without fear of retribution. An alternative model for this line is “When a rich person wrongs a poor person, he can even afford to insult that person.”

A poor man suffers wrong, and he must add apologies: The people injured by the rich are, of course, the poor. The rich can hurt the poor and go away bragging. The poor, who have been wronged, must not only suffer the injustice, but apologize to the oppressor, as if they themselves were guilty. So we may say “But when a poor person is wronged, he must apologize to the person who is hurting [or, oppressing] him.”

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.