Happy is the husband of a good wife: Although the husband is the grammatical subject of this sentence, the emphasis in Greek is on a good wife. It is hard to recreate the effect in English without being wordy, but one possibility is “But a good wife—ah, the husband of a good wife is a lucky man!” Good News Translation may provide a simpler model, however. For comments on the Greek word translated Happy, see 14.1, where Revised Standard Version renders it “Blessed.”

The number of his days will be doubled: The man will live twice as long as he would without the good wife. Good News Translation‘s addition, “because of her,” simply makes the meaning of the verse a bit clearer. However, in order to keep the emphasis on the good wife, this line may be translated “she will cause him to live twice as long.”

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.