Do not exalt yourself through your soul’s counsel: Good News Translation‘s footnote is quite accurate: “Verse 2 in both Greek and Hebrew is unclear.” Good News Translation‘s interpretation of this line is much like that of New English Bible, and New Revised Standard Version is also similar. The Handbook suggests in this difficult place that translators follow Good News Translation, with a similar footnote. Good News Translation translates “Do not let your passions carry you away,” and Contemporary English Version has “Don’t fall under the power of evil desires.”

Lest your soul be torn in pieces like a bull: Ben Sira is warning against a hot temper, being quick to react emotionally. He says “this can tear your soul to pieces like a bull” (Good News Translation). This means that a hot temper can make the same wreck of your emotional health and stability as a hot-tempered bull could make of your body with its sharp horns. In cultures where bulls are unknown, some other comparison may be used; for example, “this can tear your soul to pieces like a lion [or, tiger/bear] rips up its prey.” Soul, of course, refers to one’s own person. Contemporary English Version uses the picture of “flames” instead of an animal:

• They [evil desires] are burning flames
that will destroy you.

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.