When a man of understanding hears a wise saying, he will praise it and add to it: “Something that shows insight” is Good News Translation‘s translation of a wise saying. It is a good translation, but Good News Translation is not as helpful for the rest of these two lines. Let us imagine the social situation: there is a gathering of people, elders perhaps, who are talking. One of them, A, says something that B recognizes as insightful, wise. Since B is a man of understanding, “an educated person” (Good News Translation), he immediately recognizes it as insightful, and says so (he will praise it). He then shows his own wisdom by saying something else, presumably on the same subject, that is equally insightful (and add to it). Good News Translation “an educated person” is not incorrect, but it presents a danger. In ben Sira’s social context, an educated man would be someone schooled in the kind of wisdom that he presents in this book. When a modern person hears the phrase “an educated person,” he may think of formal education in schools or even colleges, which is not in view here. “An educated person” is a good model as long as it does not suggest the wrong thing in the receptor language. In the context here “someone who knows how to think” would work. A better model than Good News Translation‘s model for the first two lines of this verse is “When a well-informed person [or, someone who knows how to think] hears someone say something insightful [or, wise], he praises it and adds his own wisdom.” If we understand a wise saying to mean simply “a proverb” (Contemporary English Version), then another possible model is: “When a person who knows how to think hears a proverb, he will praise it and add more to it.”

When a reveler hears it, he dislikes it and casts it behind his back: Picture the same conversation noted above. Person A says something insightful (a proverb). C, however, dismisses it as nonsense, says “Yuck!” contemptuously, and makes a gesture designed to belittle the speaker, perhaps moving his arm as if throwing something over his shoulder. This is C’s attempt to show that his wisdom is superior. Ben Sira calls this person a reveler. Good News Translation “someone who is satisfied with ignorance” is true to context, but not to the Greek word for reveler, which describes someone fond of luxury, parties, and an easy life. In English we could perhaps translate “a shallow [or, superficial] person,” “a person of no depth,” or “a person who doesn’t think things through.” While it is quite possible that Good News Translation is correct in interpreting casts it behind his back as forgetting, the Handbook thinks this phrase is better taken more literally as a scornful gesture. For the last two lines of this verse we suggest “But if a shallow [or, superficial] person hears it [the proverb], he will not like it, and will show contempt for it.”

The Greek does not say that the man of understanding and the reveler hear the same wise saying at the same time. It does not hurt to assume this, however, and if the verse is easier to translate that way, that is fine. The reader or listener will probably understand it this way unless the third line of the verse repeats the phrase a wise saying from line one, or its equivalent (rather than use the pronoun it). There is nothing wrong with this approach either, and some translators may wish to consider it.

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.