A fool is ungracious and abusive: Good News Translation provides a good model. For fool see the comments on 8.17.

And the gift of a grudging man makes the eyes dim: The Greek verb translated makes … dim means “cause to melt away.” Presumably, if the eyes are dim, it is because of tears. But these are tears of hurt and bitter anger, not of joy and gratitude. See the comments on 4.1-6. Good News Translation is quite effective in English here, but it is not a good model. Better renderings are “If you make a gift with a spiteful attitude, it will make the eyes of the other person sting [or, hurt] with resentment” and “If you have an ungenerous attitude when you make a gift, it will….”

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.