May he give us gladness of heart: Gladness of heart is “happiness” (Good News Translation). As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, some Greek manuscripts read “give you” instead of give us. We suggest staying with Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. We may render this line as “We pray that he will make us happy.”

And grant that peace may be in our days in Israel, as in the days of old: For the Greek phrase rendered as in the days of old, Good News Translation has “forever.” Either rendering is possible, but we favor the Good News Translation interpretation. Good News Translation provides a good model for this line.

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.