The lips of strangers will speak of these things: As the Revised Standard Version footnote tells us, the Greek text here is uncertain. There is no completely convincing solution to the problems involved. New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Revised English Bible, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible read the text of one Greek manuscript, which says literally “Babblers speak things that are not their own.” This is taken to mean different things. New Jerusalem Bible translates “The lips of gossips repeat the words of others,” New English Bible has “The glib only repeat what others have said,” and New Revised Standard Version says “The lips of babblers speak of what is not their concern.” Any of these renderings can be defended. Good News Translation and New American Bible attempt to determine what Hebrew text could have been mistranslated by the Greek text rendered by Revised Standard Version. A case can be made the original Hebrew (which is not preserved for this chapter) had the word for “arrogant” but this was mistaken for a similar word meaning strangers. The rest of Good News Translation‘s translation depends on the one Greek manuscript mentioned above. We will return to this line with a suggested solution after looking at the second line.

But the words of the prudent will be weighed in the balance: This means that wise people will think before they speak—they weigh their words very carefully. Good News Translation spells it out with “but the wise will consider the consequences of what they say,” and Contemporary English Version has “But sensible people weigh each word before it is spoken.”

We recommend a conservative course for this verse, suggested in part by La Bible Pléiade. If we go with Good News Translation and New American Bible, reading “the arrogant” instead of strangers, it becomes possible to translate the rest of the verse without emending the text further. These things looks forward to what is said in the next line, the words that prudent people will carefully think about before speaking. A simple reversal of lines then produces the following model:

• People who are wise think about what they are going to say before they speak, but arrogant people just start talking before thinking.

This model involves less emendation than the solutions of any of the versions mentioned above, and it leads directly to the thought in the next verse. If translators are not comfortable with this, we suggest they follow the solution of New Revised Standard Version given above. In any case, the following footnote is appropriate: The Greek of this verse is unclear.

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.