A man may be shrewd and the teacher of many, and yet be unprofitable to himself: The meaning of this verse is not entirely clear. There is a saying, “Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t even teach, teach how to teach.” Perhaps ben Sira is talking about someone who can’t or doesn’t do what he teaches. Perhaps he means that this person is clever enough to teach, but can’t make a living. Perhaps it means that even though he is a popular teacher, he thinks of himself as useless. The meaning here depends on whether the person spoken of in the next two verses is the same as this person. If so, “he will be destitute of all food” in the next verse helps us decide that be unprofitable to himself means unable to make a living. But the person in this verse must be making a living as a popular teacher. We think that verse 19 and verses 20-21 are talking about two different kinds of unsuccessful teachers (unlike Good News Translation). Their successful counterparts are then described in verses 22 and 23. Verse 22 is the opposite of verse 19. This helps us to decide what unprofitable to himself means. The following model of this verse gives its meaning:

• A person may be very smart and be a popular teacher, but still not be able to manage his own affairs.

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.