The utterance of a sensible man will be sought in the assembly: Compare 15.5 and the comments there. As in 15.5, assembly here refers to any kind of public forum, and not specifically to a religious gathering. The people gathered there to make decisions will not wait for the sensible man to speak; they will ask for his opinion. For this line Good News Translation has “The assembly will be eager to hear from an intelligent person” (Good News Translation), or we may say “In a town meeting people want to hear an intelligent person speak.”

And they will ponder his words in their minds: In their minds is literally “in [their] heart.” Good News Translation expresses this line well with “and will take his opinion seriously.” Another approach is “and will think seriously about what he has to say.”

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.