The Lord has not enabled his holy ones to recount all his marvelous works, which the Lord the Almighty has established that the universe may stand firm in his glory: His holy ones are the angels, and holy in this context means “belonging to God.” So in some languages translators may simply say “his angels [or, heavenly messengers].” Stand firm in his glory means “reveal his greatness [or, power] continually.” It will help us with this verse to reduce it to the following series of simpler statements:

The universe stands firm in the Lord’s glory.
This is because the Lord the Almighty established his marvelous works.
The Lord has not given his holy angels the ability to tell about all these works.

A possible model then is:

• The Lord, the all-powerful God, in all his power [or, glory], created all these marvelous things in his universe,
and so they stand firm forever.
Not even to his holy angels has the Lord given power
to describe all his mighty deeds.

For the last two lines Good News Translation follows the Hebrew, which we do not recommend.

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.