Do not show partiality, to your own harm, or deference, to your downfall: This verse, with two lines having practically the same meaning, illustrates the last line of verse 21. We are to have such a confident and sober opinion of ourselves that we do not let ourselves be hurt by yielding to unfair claims of others. The English word partiality refers to people we are biased toward, for whom we show preference. That is not the sense here in Greek. The idea of the first line, as Good News Translation puts it, is “Do not let others have their way at your expense.” We may also express this as “Don’t be so humble that other people can always have their way with you [or, push you around].” The English word deference refers to submitting respectfully to people above us socially. The Greek does not carry this sense, but means rather “giving up your rights” (Good News Translation), and downfall refers to being harmed or ruined (Contemporary English Version “get hurt”). Since the two lines of this verse are so close in meaning, the translator may choose between (a) combining them into one statement, such as “Don’t act so humble that bullies push you around, and hurt you” or (b) finding two different ways to say the same thing. The latter is probably the better choice, and for it, Good News Translation is a good model.

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.