Everlasting covenants were made with him: Good News Translation helpfully supplies “the Lord” as the one who made the covenant with Noah (Gen 9.8-17). Covenants in the plural is unexpected, but perhaps the translator is thinking of the covenant with Noah and with every living creature as separate covenants (Gen 9.12).

That all flesh should not be blotted out by a flood: All flesh here refers to all animal and human life; Good News Translation says it simply and adequately with “life.”

Alternative models that combine the lines in this verse are:

• The Lord promised him that life would never again be destroyed by a flood.

• The Lord promised him that he would never again destroy life by a flood.

In these models “promised” represents covenants, and “never again” represents Everlasting.

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.