Then the Lord thundered from heaven, and made his voice heard with a mighty sound: These two lines are parallel, and can be combined by saying:

• Then the voice of the Lord thundered from heaven with a mighty roar.

But if the metaphor of “thundering” will seem unnatural in a translator’s language, then the following model is possible:

• Then the Lord roared [or, shouted] from heaven like the sound of thunder.

Compare the language of 1 Sam 7.10.

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.