Like a vine I caused loveliness to bud, and my blossoms became glorious and abundant fruit: There is a close parallel between the last line of verse 16 and the last line here, which is literally “and my blossoms are fruit of glory and wealth.” The Greek word translated loveliness is the same one that is rendered “graceful” in verse 16. Good News Translation the misses the point of the first line here (similarly New Jerusalem Bible “I am like a vine putting out graceful shoots”). There is nothing particularly lovely about the shoots of grapevines, and the Greek does not say that there is. It says that Wisdom caused grace, distinction, delight to flower, just as a grapevine flowers. And those blossoms (delight) bear the fruit of honor and wealth. In other words, the reward for becoming wise is becoming honored and wealthy. This verse could be expressed as follows, with an effort to keep the clear parallel with verse 16:

• Like a grape vine, I put out graceful blossoms,
and they ripen [or, develop] into [fruit of] honor and wealth.

We could even add to the end of this model, “for those who are wise.” The Handbook does not especially recommend this, but it is certainly legitimate, and reminds the reader that Wisdom, after all, is speaking. Adding the words “fruit of” will help establish the connection to verse 18, but it may make the line awkwardly long, and translators must be satisfied that their readers will understand the figure of speech involved. The mention of fruit provides a lead-in to the next group of verses.

Some manuscripts add verse 18. It should be included in a footnote at the end of verse 17 (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation). Whoever wrote these lines must have felt that ben Sira, in verses 16-17, had ignored the religious gifts that Wisdom gives.

I am the mother of beautiful love, of fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope: Good News Translation is virtually the same here as Revised Standard Version. Beautiful love refers to the desire for beautiful things. Since fear here is obviously a good quality, it probably means “reverence.” Holy hope is hope for things that God has approved.

Being eternal, I therefore am given to all my children, to those who are named by him: There are several textual and grammatical problems in these two lines. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are reading the Greek text in Rahlfs’ edition. Ziegler’s edition is quite different. Ziegler’s text is not clear at all, but it seems to say “I give [them] along with all my children; they are everlasting for those who are named by him [God].” The pronoun “them” refers to the “children” of which Wisdom is the mother: love, fear, knowledge, hope. New English Bible attempts to read Ziegler’s text as follows: “and I give all these my eternal progeny to God’s elect.” The Greek word for “elect” is not in Ziegler’s text; it is an emendation, but it is not far-fetched, and it helps a great deal in making sense of the last half of this verse. We suggest following Ziegler’s text along with that emendation, and we offer this as a model for the whole verse:

• Beautiful love, reverence, knowledge, and holy hope—
these, and others, are my eternal children,
and I give them all to those whom God chooses.

It would be appropriate to add the following footnote at the end of this model: “This verse is unclear in Greek.”

In all modesty, we suggest that translators simply accept the model above, without fully understanding all the problems in this verse, which are really complicated. Anyone who doesn’t like the model is free to translate Revised Standard Version—whatever it may mean.

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.