Do not become a beggar by feasting with borrowed money, when you have nothing in your purse: This verse makes a specific application of the warning in the previous verse. The verse may mean that if you go into debt you will eventually lose all you have and wind up as a beggar in the streets. More likely, ben Sira is saying that the act of borrowing money is itself begging. Have nothing in your purse means “have no money.” The purse was a small bag for keeping and carrying coins. A person did not necessarily carry it around, but he could do it. It was not primarily associated with women, as is a “purse” in American English. An alternative model for this verse is:

• Don’t make a beggar out of yourself by borrowing money for banquets when you don’t have enough money of your own.

It is possible here to shift the imperative from become to feasting by saying:

• Do not give banquets if you do not have the money; if you have to borrow the money you are acting like a beggar.

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.