Listen to me your father, O children: The writer is addressing his readers as his students. The terms father and children are only figures of speech (see the comments at 2.1). Good News Translation conveys the wrong impression with “Children … I am your father”; Contemporary English Version is more correct with “Students, I have been like a father to you.” Listen here means “pay attention.” It has to be noted that Ziegler’s Greek text has adopted an emendation, which is translated by New American Bible as “Children, pay heed to a father’s right.” There is some evidence for this and it may well reflect the Hebrew original, but translators should be cautious and follow Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation here.

And act accordingly most likely means “Do what I tell you” (Good News Translation) or “if you do what I say” (Contemporary English Version).

That you may be kept in safety is literally “that you may be saved.” The reference is to threats and dangers; Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and New Jerusalem Bible are correct in translating “be saved” as “be safe.” An American Translation has another way of interpreting the two parts of this line. It reads “And act in such a way that you may be preserved.” In other words, “and live in such a way that you protect yourself.” This is perfectly defensible, but the Handbook suggests that translators keep to the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation interpretation, on the grounds that it fits in better with the context of honoring one’s elders.

Contemporary English Version has a helpful model for the verse:

• Students, I have been
like a father to you,
and you will be safe
if you do what I say.

The verbs in this verse are plural. Later in this section (verse 8), the writer will shift to the second person singular. Most of the time the references to those who honor their parents are in the third person singular. Good News Translation has cast almost the entire section in the second person, making no distinction (in English) between singular and plural. New Revised Standard Version translates the third person references as third person plural in order to avoid (in English) having to make those references masculine. Translators have choices here, and the answers will depend on their own situation. There is nothing wrong with varying the references, as the author does. But neither is there anything wrong with making them consistently second person (either singular or plural) or third person (either singular or plural).

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.