This verse has a neat structure. Lines 1 and 3 are parallel, as are lines 2 and 4. In Greek (and Hebrew) lines 2 and 4 are closely parallel. Much of the force of the verse lies in these two lines, which are so crisply stated, more so than even Revised Standard Version is able to reflect. It may prove impossible in many languages to translate this effect well; Good News Translation does not try. The comparison here is made between plant life (leaves on a spreading tree) and human life (the generations of flesh and blood).

Like flourishing leaves on a spreading tree: Both leaves and tree are modified by adjectives, the force of which is to describe the manner in which leaves grow; one dies and falls and another takes its place. The word spreading could be rendered “luxuriant” or “bushy.” The idea is that the tree is thick with leaves. Good News Translation “like leaves on a spreading tree” loses a nuance, but not the fundamental meaning. A little better rendering would be “like leaves growing on a luxuriant tree.”

Which sheds some and puts forth others: Good News Translation says “New growth takes the place of the fallen leaves,” and Contemporary English Version has “new leaves … replace those that fall.” Both of these renderings are neat and scientifically proper ways to express this line. Notice that these translations make no attempt to mirror the structure of the original text.

So are the generations of flesh and blood: Here the comparison is made between human life, consisting of flesh and blood (as opposed to plant life), and the leaves of trees. The word generations itself describes the passing of the old and their replacement by the young. Good News Translation expresses the generations of flesh and blood simply as “Human beings.” This certainly conveys the meaning, but it sacrifices all the subtleties of this phrase.

One dies and another is born: Good News Translation expands this slightly, with good effect, saying “while some of us die, others are being born.”

Good News Translation offers a good model for this verse. Some other possibilities are given here, illustrating various combinations of the elements in the verse:

• As leaves grow on a tree thick with leaves, some falling, some growing, so go the human generations, some dying, some being born.

• How do the leaves grow on a luxuriant tree? Some fall and others take their place. So the generations of human lives pass. Some of us die while others take our place.

• The generations of the human race are like the leaves on a tree thick with leaves: falling, growing; dying, being born.

• Leaves are always falling off a tree while others grow in their place. Human life is the same way. Some of us die, while others are born to take our places.

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.