Be like a father to orphans, and instead of a husband to their mother: A respected man in the community should see that a widow and her children (called orphans) do not go without the help they need. He should give them the help that the husband and father would provide if he were still living. The translator must be sure to avoid the danger here of implying that the man is supposed to love the mother like a husband or provide her with sexual attentions, something that both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation can be taken to imply. We are talking here about financial support and protection from injustice. Contemporary English Version does this with “provide for orphans and widows, as if they were your own children or wife.”

You will then be like a son of the Most High: The author is simply saying that if you extend to a widow and her children your care, as if you were their husband and father, then God will extend to you his care, as if you were a son to be protected and loved. God the Most High, who is more important and worthy of reverence than anyone in your community, will treat you like a son. He will be to you as you are to these poor people, only more so. Treat them properly and God will treat you properly. A better rendering than Good News Translation would be “Then the Most High will treat you like a son [or, like parents treat their sons].” The Most High refers, of course, to God’s supreme majesty, not to his physical height or size, and may be rendered “the Lord who is all-powerful,” “the Lord who is over everything,” or even “the Lord who is above everything.”

He will love you more than does your mother: There is no greater love than a mother’s love—except God’s.

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.