By the law of the Lord he judged the congregation: Here the congregation refers to the people of Israel as a whole; Good News Translation (also Contemporary English Version) correctly translates “the nation.” An alternative model for this line is “He used the Lord’s Law to judge the nation.”

And the Lord watched over Jacob: Watched over means “protected.” In this line Jacob refers to the people of Israel. Good News Translation follows its usual practice of translating Jacob in this sense as “Israel.” Since the Lord’s action was the result of Samuel’s obeying his Law, Good News Translation‘s translation could be slightly changed to “and so the Lord protected Israel.”

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.