Do not abuse a servant who performs his work faithfully: Good News Translation does well here. The servant in view is probably a slave, however. Contemporary English Version makes this clear by saying “slaves.” In this verse the servant is compared to one who works for wages, as slaves do not. And in the next verse the same word is used of one who is to be given freedom. This line can be stated positively: “Treat your slaves well when they do their work faithfully.” The Greek allows the translation faithfully or “well,” as in Good News Translation (also Contemporary English Version). Faithfully is closer to the Hebrew original.

Or a hired laborer who devotes himself to you: To you is not in the Greek; this could be referring to an employee devoting himself to his work. This makes a neater parallel to the first line. In fact, the two lines can be combined by saying:

• Treat your slaves and other workers well when they devote themselves to their work and do it faithfully.

Or we may again use a conditional (“If”) clause as follows:

• If your slaves and other workers devote themselves to their work and do it faithfully, you must treat them well [or, don’t mistreat them].

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.