Who before him ever stood so firm? is literally “Who before him ever stood so?” Looking at the Hebrew, we can see that this rhetorical question was intended to mean “No one could stand up to him.” This is Good News Translation‘s translation, along with a footnote that it is reading the Hebrew. This is our preference, so other possible renderings are “No one could stand against him” and even “No one could defeat him.” Those who wish simply to translate the Greek may say “Never before was anyone so determined.”

For he waged the wars of the Lord: Good News Translation has a good translation here, but “holy war” could cause problems in some situations. We could say “The wars he fought he was fighting for the Lord [or, at the Lord’s command]” or even “He fought the battles that the Lord commanded him to.”

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.