No one is meaner than the man who is grudging to himself: The author is literally saying that no one is “worse, more evil,” not “worse off” (Good News Translation, Shekan) or “more miserable” (similarly Contemporary English Version), than someone who is stingy with himself. However, Good News Translation seems to capture the meaning. Luís Alonso Schökel restructures this line well, but its rendering does not translate well into English. However, others may be able to use it. Luís Alonso Schökel says literally “the miser with himself is the supreme miser.” Ben Sira would surely approve of the following translations: “There is no one stingier than people who are stingy with themselves” or “People who won’t spend money on themselves are the most stingy people.”

And this is the retribution for his baseness: The word this looks backward, not forward. It means that the person who is stingy with himself is punishing himself for his own stinginess. It is a sin whose punishment is automatic, self-punishing. It is its own punishment. So Good News Translation says “it is a sin that brings its own punishment.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• People who won’t spend money on themselves are the stingiest people of all. They are simply punishing themselves.

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.