In the waves of the sea, in the whole earth, and in every people and nation I have gotten a possession: Have gotten a possession translates the Greek of Rahlfs’ text, which is found in the majority of manuscripts. Good News Translation “ruled over” is following another text, found in Ziegler’s edition. While several translations (including New Revised Standard Version) go with Good News Translation, which is supported by the Latin and Syriac, we suggest that translators follow Revised Standard Version. This will fit in better with verse 7. An American Translation says “owned.” Other ways of expressing this would be “took possession of” and “claimed … as my own.” The whole earth refers to dry land here, as opposed to the sea. The Greek words for people and nation translate two Hebrew words. The first Hebrew word is usually applied to God’s people, the Israelites, while the second one usually refers to other nations, the Gentiles. Here both terms are used together to refer to all nations since they are qualified by the adjective every. We could translate this whole verse as follows:

• I took possession of land and sea,
of every people and nation.

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.