The way of sinners is smoothly paved with stones: Smoothly paved with stones is literally “smoothed out of stones.” Most versions and scholars follow the sense of Revised Standard Version here, but Smend insists that it means “smoothed by being cleared of stones,” pointing out that roads in ben Sira’s day were not paved with stones, as in Roman times, but were cleared by smoothing out ruts and clearing stones away. We would not be missing anything in this line by saying “The road that sinners walk is smooth and easy to travel.”

But at its end is the pit of Hades: The pit of Hades is Sheol, the world of the dead (see the comments on 14.16). Good News Translation is a good model for this line, but we could say “but it leads to certain death.” But if a translator wishes to keep the imagery of Hades, it is possible to translate “but it slopes down to the world of the dead” (Contemporary English Version), or we may say “but the road ends where dead people stay.”

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.