Gladness of heart is the life of man, and the rejoicing of a man is length of days: Good News Translation has combined Gladness of heart and rejoicing into the one word “Happiness”; Contemporary English Version keeps both with “Joy and happiness.” What does it mean to say that Gladness … is the life of man? New American Bible renders it “Gladness of heart is the very life of man”; New English Bible‘s translation is “A merry heart keeps a man alive.” If gladness is life itself, if gladness is what it means to be alive, if gladness gives life meaning, it means that it makes life worth living (so Good News Translation). Translators who are using poetry may render this verse as follows:

• Joy and happiness will help you
to live a long life
and make it worth living.

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.