Good News Translation‘s paragraph break here is appropriate.

The mourning of men is about their bodies: Good News Translation reads the Hebrew here, but we recommend following the Greek. This line means that people go into mourning when a person’s body dies. The next line will contrast the death of the body with one’s reputation. Possible alternative models are “When someone dies, we usually mourn” (Contemporary English Version) and “Even though people mourn when a person dies….”

But the evil name of sinners will be blotted out: The name refers to one’s “reputation” (Good News Translation), the opinion people have of a person. The verse says that even though people mourn when a person’s body dies, an evil person’s name and reputation will be erased from human memory. Good News Translation‘s rendering of this line is based on the Hebrew (also New American Bible). We do not recommend it.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Even though people mourn when someone dies, they will completely forget an evil person’s name and reputation [after he is dead].

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.