Who has been tested by it and been found perfect?: This question does not expect an answer; ben Sira clearly believes the answer is “No one.” Good News Translation restructures the question as a conditional clause: “If anyone has ever passed this test.” We may also say “If anyone has ever been tested by money and didn’t do anything wrong.” This is accurate and economical.

Let it be for him a ground for boasting: New English Bible is good with “Then he has good cause to be proud.” Another possible rendering is “he has something to boast about” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Who has had the power to transgress and did not transgress, and to do evil and did not do it?: Again, this question implies the answer “No one” but does not expect an answer. These two lines mean almost exactly the same thing, and can be easily combined, as in Good News Translation. Good News Translation is more specific about the kind of sin involved than the Greek, but “cheating someone” is the kind of sin you have to commit if you are going to get rich by sinful means. It does not read too much into the text. “Cheating someone” (Good News Translation) could be rendered “cheating people.” An alternative model for these two lines is “Has anyone ever known [or, realized] that he could cheat someone to get more money, and yet remained honest?” As a statement, they could be translated “No one has ever realized that he could make money by cheating someone, and yet remained honest.”

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.