There is One who is wise: This means there is only one who is really wise, and it is important that translators do not allow the reader to think ben Sira is talking of one among others. (New Revised Standard Version has corrected this by saying “There is but one who is wise.”) The One who is wise is, of course, the Lord. Contemporary English Version, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version, and Shekan identify this One as “the Lord” in this verse. They are not just trying to be helpful; they are dealing with a problem in the Greek. In the Greek text the word “Lord” appears in such a way that it can be taken with either verse 8 or verse 9. The translations just mentioned take it with verse 8; most of them simply add “the Lord” at the end of the verse with a preceding dash, colon, or comma. New English Bible works it into the verse with the phrase “the Lord most terrible.” Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible take “the Lord” to be part of the next verse, which they begin with the phrase “The Lord himself.” Most of the other versions begin with “It is/was he who…” or “He it is who….” There is simply no way to determine a right answer to this. Translators may feel perfectly free to put “the Lord” in this verse or the next one. However, on the basis of grammar, arrangement of lines in the Greek manuscripts, and balance of lines in the poetry, this Handbook suggests that translators follow Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible in reserving “the Lord” for verse 9. But for translators who are rendering this verse as prose and who must identify One, we may translate the first line as “Only the Lord is truly wise.”

Greatly to be feared, sitting upon his throne: Greatly to be feared does not mean that we are to be afraid of God, but that we are to hold him in profound reverence, in worshipful awe (compare 43.29). For this line Good News Translation has the worshiper standing rather than God sitting: “and we must stand in awe before his throne.” If God is on the throne as we approach him, he is of course sitting on it. That is clearly implied. However, translators must be cautious in following Good News Translation too closely here if standing seems not to be an appropriate expression of awe. “We must bow [or, kneel] in awe before his throne” may be more fitting. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model for this verse, using “fearsome and majestic” as the equivalent of greatly to be feared:

• Only the Lord is that wise;
he is fearsome and majestic
as he rules from his throne.

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.