Give him no authority in his youth: For Give him no authority, Good News Translation translates “Don’t give him freedom.” This is surely correct. Authority suggests some kind of control over other people, which is not involved here. Ben Sira means freedom to do as he wishes. This is consistent with the Greek noun here. So it is possible to translate “Don’t let him do just anything he wants.”

And do not ignore his errors may be rendered “Don’t turn your head when he does something wrong.” If the translator prefers, this could be stated positively: “Take it seriously when he does something wrong,” or even “Correct him when he does something wrong.”

As indicated by the two textual footnotes to verse 12 in Revised Standard Version, there are textual problems here. In most Greek manuscripts verses 11b, 12a, and 12d are missing. On the authority of some Greek manuscripts, the Latin, and the Hebrew, most scholars accept these lines, and this Handbook urges translators to include them. We do not believe a textual footnote is necessary. At this point a Hebrew text becomes available again. Only short fragments have survived for the material from 16.26 to 30.11, but from here on it is available to the end of the book, with only two breaks.

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.