You will play the host and provide drink without being thanked: This refers to household duties the “client” takes on. Since he’s living off the richer man, he’s expected to do things for him, but no one is going to thank him, not the rich man nor the rich man’s honored guests. Play the host is well translated by Good News Translation “You welcome the guests” and New English Bible “You receive the guests.” Good News Translation “pour the drinks” is better than provide drink, which sounds like you paid for the drinks. The man pictured here hasn’t paid for anything; he’s simply acting like a servant.

There is a trap waiting for the translator here. Both the poor man whose life is described here, and the people whom he is welcoming and whose cups he is keeping full, are the rich man’s “guests.” But they have very different status. If a translator refers to “guests” into this verse, it must be a different word from the one used in verse 24 of the poor man. In this discussion we are using “visitor” to describe the parasite, the poor man sponging off the rich man; the word suggests that the visitor takes the initiative in coming to the rich man’s house. We are using “guests” to describe those whom the rich man invites, whom he wishes to honor. It may be necessary in some languages to make this clear; for example, this line may be rendered “You will greet guests the rich man has invited and pour drinks for them, and nobody will thank you.”

And besides this you will hear bitter words: “Instead” in Good News Translation means “Instead of being thanked.” The bitter words are not necessarily insulting on the surface; they are bitter in the context. It hurts your pride to have people order you to do a servant’s job. Good News Translation properly shifts attention to the hearer’s feelings by rendering the last part of this line as “people humiliate you by saying things like.” This line introduces the next two verses, where the writer gives examples of humiliating words.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• You will greet guests the rich man has invited and pour drinks for them. Instead of thanking you, they will humiliate you [or, cause you to lose much face] by saying things like:

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.