We suggest a paragraph break at this point. The thrust of the prayer changes here. (For those following Ziegler’s numbers, the first line of our verse 11 is his verse 13; the second line is his verse 16. There is no missing text in Ziegler’s Greek text, just two missing numbers. It is complicated, and this is not the place to explain it.)

Gather all the tribes of Jacob: Here Jacob refers to the people of Israel; Good News Translation so translates. At ben Sira’s time the Jewish people were widely scattered over the Mediterranean world and beyond. He prays for them to be brought together again. Good News Translation “Gather … again” does not refer to a second time of gathering, but to restoration of an original unity. A tribe is normally thought of as a group of people who are descended from the same ancestor. Often, as in the case of the Israelites, a tribe was further subdivided into smaller groups called clans. In the case of cultures that do not have “tribes” or “clans,” we may render this line as “Gather all the families of Israel together again.”

And give them their inheritance, as at the beginning: Their inheritance is the land of Israel. The beginning refers to the Israelites’ original occupation of the land under Joshua. Good News Translation deals with this line nicely, saying “and give them back their land as you gave it to them long ago.” The textual note here in Revised Standard Version may be ignored.

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.