He lifts up the soul and gives light to the eyes: To “lift up the soul” means to make someone cheerful. Giving light to the eyes can sometimes refer simply to eyesight, but here it refers to the signs of happiness that are evident in people’s eyes; in English it is called “sparkle” (Good News Translation). Contemporary English Version has a helpful model for this line: “Your eyes will sparkle with the happiness he gives.”

He grants healing, life, and blessing: Good News Translation expresses blessing as a verb, with “life and health” as objects. This works well, but in a number of languages he grants … blessing will be translated “He is good [or, kind] to them,” and the whole line may be expressed as “He is kind to them [or, you] and causes them [or, you] to be healthy and have a long life.”

For the last line Ziegler’s Greek text adopts a conjectural emendation from the Syriac. It reads “giving healing of life and blessing.” The Handbook urges translators to follow the traditional text translated in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, and found in the Greek manuscripts.

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.