Translation commentary on Sirach 14:13

Do good to a friend before you die: There is something a bit awkward in saying that we should do anything before we die, since anything we do has to be done before that time. It is not a big problem, but there are ways of making it less awkward. Good News Translation renders before you die as “Before that day comes,” referring back to the day of death mentioned in verse 12. “Be kind to [or, Do things for] your friends while you still can” would be another way of translating this line. Although the word friend is singular in Greek, there is no problem in translating it as plural if that is more natural. The author is certainly not saying that we should select one particular friend to show kindness to.

And reach out and give to him as much as you can: This is literally “and according to your strength reach out and give to him.” Good News Translation compresses all of this into the simple expression “be as generous as you can.” Reach out is not to be taken literally to mean actually extending your arm; it is a figure of speech for extending help to someone. This figure happens to be quite natural in English. Give to him as much as you can is probably misleading. Surely ben Sira is not advising his readers to make themselves poor by giving away everything they have to their friends. Then they in turn would have to give everything away to their friends, and the streets would be crowded with people going back and forth giving things away. We are to give from our resources, from what we have.

Here is a possible model for this verse:

• Do things for your friends while you still can. Help them out by sharing whatever you may have.

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.