It is a miserable life to go from house to house: Good News Translation words this in more natural English, saying “Going from house to house is a miserable way to live.” It refers to people who live off of others, going from house to house as visitors or “clients” (see the introduction to this subsection).

And where you are a stranger you may not open your mouth: Good News Translation misses the reason here for not daring to speak. A better model is “You never dare speak, because you are always a visitor.” Or we may translate “You never belong anywhere you go, so you never dare speak.”

Contemporary English Version combines these two lines, and this is a possible way to restructure the verse:

• You will always be miserable
and will not dare say a word,
if you have to depend on others
for food and a place to sleep.

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.