They do not crowd one another aside: This describes the army of heavenly bodies; it is not a jostling mob. Like a well-ordered army of trained soldiers, they march in orderly formation (compare Joel 2.7-8). Good News Translation renders the pronoun They as “The parts,” that is, the parts of creation it mentioned in verse 27. If the suggestion of referring to “heavenly bodies” in that verse is followed, the simple pronoun They could be used here. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model for this line: “They don’t get in the way of each other.”

And they will never disobey his word: This could be stated positively as “They are always following his [the Lord’s] orders,” or more simply “They always obey him.”

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.