And these two alone were preserved out of six hundred thousand people on foot: See Num 11.21; 26.65. Good News Translation helpfully identifies this large group as the “Israelites who marched through the wilderness.” On foot is included in the verb “marched.” A possible alternative model for these lines is “Six hundred thousand Israelites who marched through the wilderness died. Only Caleb and Joshua were spared.”

To bring them into their inheritance, into a land flowing with milk and honey: Good News Translation makes a good connection with the previous lines by saying “spared and allowed to enter….” “Rich and fertile land” is Good News Translation‘s customary translation of the frequent phrase land flowing with milk and honey, and in many languages this will be a more natural translation. However, for translators who wish to keep the metaphor of flowing with milk and honey, other possible models are “land rich with milk and honey” (Contemporary English Version) and “land that has milk and honey in abundance.” Translators will want to make the phrase here conform to what they have done elsewhere in their translation, for instance, Exo 3.8; 13.5; Deut 6.3.

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.