Observe the right time, and beware of evil: What is meant by Observe the right time is not clear. “Take advantage of opportunities” (Good News Translation) is a justifiable translation, as is “Be on your guard at all times” (Revised English Bible) or “use every opportunity for doing good” (Contemporary English Version). New Jerusalem Bible “Take circumstances into account” is probably as good as any of these renderings. The meaning would be that before taking any action or making any decision we should examine the context, the circumstances in which we stand. “Do things at the proper time” may come close. Always, however, we should beware of evil, be on guard against doing evil (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). It is not a matter of being on guard against an evil person (grammatically possible, as the Revised Standard Version footnote explains) or against evil being done to us. We are admonished to do what we do at the right and proper time, but in assessing the situation we must always be sure we are not acting in a way that is wrong, or evil. So we may translate this line as “Do things at the proper time, and always be careful not to act in a way that is evil.”

And do not bring shame on yourself is literally “and do not be ashamed of your soul.” There are several interesting interpretations of this line that differ from the one in Revised Standard Version: “Don’t underrate yourself” (Good News Translation), “and do not be ashamed to be yourself” (New Revised Standard Version), “and have no cause to be ashamed of yourself” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “And don’t be ashamed of who you are” (Contemporary English Version). The author is surely advising self-respect here, but the idea is connected with the first line. Perhaps it helps to state the thought positively: “Take pride in yourself.” The verse may then be expressed as follows:

• Do things at the proper time, but always be on guard against doing evil, so that you can take pride in yourself [or, so that you have no reason to be ashamed of yourself].

When ben Sira writes this, he may be thinking of the danger to Judaism from Hellenistic culture, and urging devout Jewish readers not to be ashamed of their own traditions.

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.