Woe to…!: The idea expressed in Woe to (An American Translation “Alas for”) is extremely difficult to get across in ordinary English; other languages may not find it as much of a problem. When a person pronounces woe on another, it is in a way the opposite of a blessing, but it is not exactly a curse either. It speaks of misery, calamity, unhappiness, misfortune. Nor is it expressed as a wish. Ben Sira is not expressing here his desire that misfortunes come on faithless people; he is saying that misfortunes await them, that bad times are what they have in store, all they have to look forward to. Good News Translation‘s pronouncement of “doom” rather badly skews the picture. One possibility is “How sad [or, tragic] things will be [or, life will turn out] for….” Another is “What sadness [or, tragedy] lies in store for….” Or we may even say “Pity….” In certain languages this will need to be rendered in the active voice, showing the Lord as the agent of the tragedy; for example, “The Lord will cause you to receive trouble [or, tragedy] if….”

Timid hearts … slack hands: Timid hearts speaks of people who are not brave enough to “persevere in the fear of the Lord” (verse 10), to keep steadfast in their duty to God, their religious practice. So we may translate this phrase as “if you don’t have the courage to be faithful to the Lord.” Slack hands speaks of people who are not diligent enough in their religious duty, who do not work hard enough at it. Good News Translation seems to combine the two phrases into “those who lose their nerve.” This is a good translation of timid hearts, but slack hands is something different. An alternative model for this line is “The Lord will cause you to receive trouble [or, suffer tragedy], if you don’t have the courage to be faithful to him and steadfastly serve him.”

The sinner who walks along two ways is essentially the hypocrite of 1.29-30, the person who says one thing and does another, which in some languages will be a natural way to express this. However, in other languages the picture of “walking two ways” will also be possible. Good News Translation “all those sinners who try to have it both ways” expresses the idea in idiomatic English. So does New English Bible “the sinner who leads a double life.” While in Greek timid hearts and slack hands are plural and the sinner is singular, most translators will probably want to frame all three expressions as either singular or plural.

Revised Standard Version has three categories of people in this verse, but Good News Translation has only one. Revised Standard Version is more accurate with three categories, so translators should try to express this.

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.