They cannot show signs in the heavens and among the nations: Revised Standard Version has stumbled over the Greek here. As its footnote indicates, it has inserted and, but it has also reversed the order of the words connected by and. The Greek reads “And signs in the nations in heaven they will not show.” The Greek is certainly odd, but most scholars agree that the text does not need to be changed, and that “in the nations” has the meaning “for the nations,” that is, the gods cannot provide heavenly signs for the guidance of nations or peoples. New Revised Standard Version now reads “they cannot show signs in the heavens for the nations.” Another way to say this is “they cannot show signs in the sky to lead [or, guide] the nations.”

Shine like the sun or give light like the moon: In some languages it will be possible to use two separate verbs as in Revised Standard Version; namely, “the sun shines” and “the moon gives light.” In other languages, however, translators may combine the two as Good News Translation has done with the one verb “shine” (also Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.