Search out and seek, and she will become known to you: At this point ben Sira begins to accent the positive. So far he has been telling us how hard it is to follow Wisdom, but now he tries to assure us that the struggle will be successful and worthwhile. Search out and seek [her] is easily combined into “Go looking for her” (Good News Translation). “She will reveal herself to you” (Good News Translation) is not quite the same as the literal she will become known to you. The imagery has changed here. We are no longer talking about serving Wisdom as her slave, but tracking her down as a hunter tracks down an animal (compare 14.22). We might suggest “Hunt for Wisdom; track her down and you will find her.”

And when you get hold of her, do not let her go: To keep same imagery of the hunt, a possible model here is “When you have caught her, don’t let go.” Compare Pro 4.13.

An alternative model of this verse for those languages that cannot personify Wisdom is:

• If you go and earnestly try to become wise, you will succeed. Once you have become wise, don’t let yourself lose that wisdom.

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.