Every friend will say, “I too am a friend”: Good News Translation digests the meaning of this line and rewords it without the quotation, saying “Anyone can claim to be your friend.”

But some are friends only in name may be rendered “but some are not really your friends.”

An alternative model for the whole verse is:

• Many people will say, “I too am your friend,” but are not telling the truth [or, are lying].

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.