Do not glorify yourself by dishonoring your father: Here Ben Sira seems well aware of the rivalry between son and father that sometimes appears, especially when the son is at an age when he is trying to assert his own manhood and independence. The author calls it to the reader’s attention, so that the reader can recognize this in his own behavior, and take warning. No one ever gains in reputation by belittling or putting down another person, but it is especially wrong for a child to do this to a parent. Do not glorify yourself may also be expressed as “Don’t try to increase your own reputation [or, gain more honor/face].” Dishonoring your father does not necessarily mean doing some spiteful, hateful act with the purpose of dishonoring the man. It can refer to more subtle things, discrediting more than dishonoring, what Good News Translation means by “Never seek honor for yourself at your father’s expense.” Or we may say “Never seek honor [or, face] for yourself by hurting your father’s reputation,” or even “… by making your father lose face [or, status].”

For your father’s dishonor is no glory to you: How can bringing your father down raise you up? How can discrediting your father give you any higher status? Good News Translation expresses it well as a statement, but New English Bible translates this line as a question: “how can his discredit bring honour to you?” This is an approach worth considering. The next verse continues the idea of this one.

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.