He brought a famine upon them, and by his zeal he made them few in number: The story of Elijah bringing a devastating drought on Israel is told in 1 Kgs 17. In some languages it will be necessary to render the first line as “He caused the rain to stop falling and the people had little food to eat.” While “persistence” (Good News Translation) is a possible interpretation of zeal, more likely there is a reference here to 1 Kgs 19.10, 14, where Revised Standard Version speaks of Elijah being “jealous” for the Lord. For the second line we could say “Many people died because of his devotion to the Lord.”

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.