There are several problems in verses 5 and 6. (1) The text is not well preserved. (2) It is not clear what the second line of verse 5 says or means. (3) In spite of the numerical proverb form (three things … a fourth), it is not clear from the grammar that four things are named. If there is a fourth one, it can only be what is mentioned in verse 6a. (4) The meaning of verse 6b is not clear. Unfortunately, the Hebrew has not survived to help us out.

Of three things my heart is afraid: The Greek verb here really means “be careful” (so Contemporary English Version), “be cautious, beware.” This line may be rendered “There are three things that I am cautious about.” If the present tense of the verb in this line is made past tense, then another possible model is “There are three things I have always been cautious about,” or perhaps “I have learned to be cautious about three things.”

And of a fourth I am frightened: Of a fourth is literally “of [or, at] a fourth face.” Most translations conveniently ignore the word “face.” This word may be used of a person, so An American Translation translates this line as “And a fourth person that I fear.” The text of this line is uncertain (see the Revised Standard Version footnote). Instead of I am frightened, some Greek manuscripts read “I was betrayed.” Others, such as Rahlfs’ Greek text, read “I prayed.” We believe that Ziegler’s reading, “I am [or, was] frightened,” is correct; it neatly parallels the first line and is found in the Latin.

Good News Translation condenses the two lines of this verse into one statement: “There are four things that scare me.” The word three has not been ignored by Good News Translation. This is how Good News Translation deals with numerical proverbs like this one; see the comments at 25.7. Good News Translation assumes that these two lines are saying the same thing. This can be defended and translators may with good conscience use Good News Translation as a model here. However, we believe some refinements are possible. The two verbs here do not mean exactly the same thing, and it is possible to take advantage of the difference in meaning. Further, if verse 6a is the “fourth thing,” it is a person, which the first three are not. This translation is possible for these two lines:

• There are three things that I have always been very cautious about, and I have learned to be afraid of a fourth thing—a person.

Another possible approach will be given after the comments on the rest of the verse.

The slander of a city: What this means is not perfectly clear, but most versions, with good reason, take it to refer to malicious reports that a whole community comes to believe. Good News Translation says “vicious rumors spread around town.” An American Translation offers a good, simple translation: “Town gossip.” This may be expanded to “When people spread vicious [or, ugly] gossip around a city.”

The gathering of a mob: Most translations here are similar to Revised Standard Version, but we do not think this is what the Greek says. At least, the Greek does not imply what the gathering of a mob implies in English. This phrase suggests that a group of unruly people have come together and are about to commit acts of violence. That is not what ben Sira is talking about. No one needs a wisdom teacher like ben Sira to tell them to be afraid of mob violence. The matters he is concerned with in verses 5-6 all have to do with the misuse of speech, a frequent theme of his. These are things he, as a wise man, sees as dangerous and fearful, but which people less wise would not recognize as such. Further, the Greek noun translated gathering refers to a group of people who have already come together (not to the action of assembling), and in particular, to a legally constituted assembly of some kind, usually political. We think that what ben Sira has learned to fear is such a political assembly when it is dominated by mob mentality, when it has ceased to function as a deliberative body. It is not going to do anything violent, but it is going to take hasty actions that have not been thought through, that are just not smart. Revised English Bible is on the right track: “a mob controlling the assembly.” What ben Sira says is “a public assembly ruled by emotion rather than by reason” or “a public assembly where people discuss matters emotionally rather than using reason.” This fits exactly with the first and third items on his list here.

And false accusation: This phrase means just what it says. Perhaps it may be expanded to “when people accuse the innocent falsely.”

All these are worse than death: We cannot say that this rendering is wrong, but the Greek uses a more precise and colorful word than worse. It says that these things are distressing, they cause suffering and pain and hardship. Revised English Bible has it right: “all harder to bear than death.” This clause seems to mean “all these things are harder to bear than someone else’s death”—not your own death, or death in general.

The following model incorporates the conclusions reached above. It reorders the verse so that the second line appears last. It does not require referring to a “fourth thing” since that idea is incorporated in a different way:

• There are three things that I have always been distrustful [or, suspicious] of: town gossip, a public assembly too excited to think clearly, and false accusations. Any of these can cause more suffering than a death. But I have learned to fear a certain kind of person more than any of them.

In languages that do not have the passive voice, we may translate as follows:

• There are three things that I have always distrusted: when people spread ugly gossip around a city, or when people in a public assembly discuss matters with their emotions rather than reason, or when people accuse the innocent falsely. Any of these can cause more suffering than someone dying. But I have learned to fear….

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.