Ascribe majesty to his name and give thanks to him with praise may be rendered “Proclaim his glory in grateful praise!” (Good News Translation) or “Praise the Lord, thanking him for his greatness [or, how great he is].”

With songs on your lips, and with lyres: A “lyre” was a musical instrument, a kind of small harp that could be held in one hand and played with the other. Grammatically this line belongs with the previous lines, but Good News Translation joins it to the next line, which does not hurt the meaning.

And this you shall say in thanksgiving: Good News Translation does not exactly omit in thanksgiving; it is included in “sing this song,” although weakly. The Greek word rendered thanksgiving does not exactly mean this. Its meaning is more “confession, acknowledgment, celebration.” For this line we could say “sing this song of celebration.”

A translator may use a different ordering of the clauses in this verse as follows:

• Play your harps and sing praises to the Lord, telling him how great he is. Sing this song of celebration:….

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.