By his words he caused signs to cease: His words refers to Moses’ words, and the pronoun he refers to God as subject. God made things happen by means of the words that Moses spoke. The Greek text is almost certainly wrong here. The word translated cease very closely resembles the word for “hasten,” which is the sense of the Hebrew. (Ziegler’s text is emended to read “hasten.”) We recommend that translators follow the Hebrew here. Good News Translation has done this, although we are not comfortable with Good News Translation‘s translation. The signs that quickly came at Moses’ command are surely the plagues on Egypt, but “There in Egypt” corresponds to nothing in the text, and while it is not out of place entirely, it is not necessary. Nor do we like “the disaster struck.” A better translation for this line is “Moses spoke, and the Lord made miraculous things start happening.” The following footnote should be added: “Hebrew start happening; Greek stop.”

The Lord glorified him in the presence of kings: This is said well in Good News Translation, which has “The Lord made kings hold him in respect.” Contemporary English Version is also good with “and even the king of Egypt was forced to honor him.” As in verse 1, the Lord is literally “he,” but Revised Standard Version spells out the pronoun for clarity.

He gave him commands for his people: This refers to the giving of the Law. So we may say “The Lord gave Moses the Law to pass on to the people.”

And showed him part of his glory: The reference here is to Exo 33.18-23, and translators should translate this passage in accordance with their translation of the Exodus story. Good News Translation translates glory as “the dazzling light of his presence,” because it dealt with the Exodus passage in that way. Good News Translation omits the idea of part of his glory, which is textually uncertain. For this line the Hebrew simply says “and showed him his glory,” and so do some Greek manuscripts. Another possible model is “and let him see the dazzling light of his presence.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Moses spoke, and the Lord made miraculous things start happening. * He forced the king of Egypt to honor Moses. He also gave him the Law to pass on to the people, and let him see [some of] the dazzling light of his presence.
* Hebrew start happening; Greek stop.

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.