The next couplet (vv 27–28) deals with
cursing and slander. In v 27a, “his adversary” translates Gr ton satanan, presumably based on Heb haśśāṭān, which originally meant
“adversary” and not “Satan” (as a proper noun); cf. Num 22:22, 32; 1 Sam 29:4;
2 Sam 19:23; 1 Kgs 5:18; 11:25. The meaning of v 27 probably is that the
“godless” in cursing his adversary (who is presumably a Jew) “really curses
himself” because his curse recoils on his own head; cf. Gen 12:3: “I will bless
those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” Cf. also Gen 27:29 and Num
24:9. The “slanderer” attempts to dirty his victim but instead “besmirches
himself” (v 28a) and at the same time “is hated by his neighbors” (v 28b); cf.
5:14–6:1; 28:13; Jas 3:6. “Slander, like coal, will either dirty your hand or
burn it” (Russian proverb). “He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most”
(Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia [1732],
2107). (Patrick W. Skehan and Alexander A. Di Lella, The
Wisdom of Ben Sira: A New Translation with Notes, Introduction and Commentary
[AYB 39; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 311-12)
