This is what one devoid of understanding thinks: This refers to the content of verses 17-22. New English Bible says “These are the thoughts of a small mind,” and Good News Translation has “Only someone with very little sense … would think things like that.” Another possible model is “Only stupid people would have such thoughts.”

A senseless and misguided man thinks foolishly: Thinks translates the same Greek verb as in the previous line; this makes it easy to combine the two lines into one sentence. Revised English Bible does it this way:

• These are the thoughts of a small mind,
the absurdities of a senseless and misguided person.

New Jerusalem Bible is similar:

• Such are the thoughts of the person of little sense,
stupid, misguided, cherishing his folly.

Good News Translation has a more pleasing restructuring: “Only someone with very little sense, and foolishly misguided, would think things like that.” The problem with Good News Translation is that someone hearing the passage has no way of knowing, until the end of the sentence, that these are the author’s words, not the skeptic’s. This could be solved somewhat by this rearrangement:

• Ideas like these are held by foolish, misguided people without good sense.

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.