μνήσθητι ὅτι δ᾽ι αὐτῶν ἐγεννήθης,
καὶ τί ἀνταποδώσεις αὐτοῖς καθὼς αὐτοὶ σοί;
28Remember that it was of your parents you were born;
how will you repay what they have given to you?
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “remember” in English is translated in Mairasi as “it is (or: place it) in your liver’s crack” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar as barrang-dwangka, literally “ear-hold” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
See also forget, wisdom, God remembered Noah and Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions.
Remember that through your parents you were born: Good News Translation is a good model here, unless it is misunderstood. To owe your life to someone generally means that this person has saved your life, not given you life. The idea could be rephrased as follows: “Remember that these two people brought you into the world.”
And what can you give back to them that equals their gift to you?: The Greek is not as wordy as Revised Standard Version‘s translation. Good News Translation provides a simple and effective model.
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.
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