For he wiped out his enemies on every side: Good News Translation expresses on every side simply as “all,” which is a bit colorless. If on every side or “on every front” (New Jerusalem Bible) will not work, translators could try “all around” (actually more literal), “in every battle,” or even “everywhere he fought.” An alternative model for this line is “For he wiped out [or, exterminated] his enemies wherever he fought them.”

And annihilated his adversaries the Philistines: To “annihilate” is to reduce to nothing. If it is taken literally here, it is an overstatement, of course, but “permanently crushed” (Good News Translation), “permanently defeated,” and even “defeated … so that they could never fight him again” are good equivalents. It is not absolutely necessary to make his adversaries explicit, since his enemies carries over from the first line. However, it may be necessary to show that the Philistines were only one of the enemy nations that David fought against. So we may translate the first part of this verse as follows: “He destroyed opposing armies all around, and as for his old enemies the Philistines—he wiped them out.” For Philistines see the comments on 46.18.

He crushed their power even to this day: Revised Standard Version has the same footnote here as in verse 5; see the comments there. Even to this day refers to ben Sira’s time. He means that Philistine power was permanently crushed. This line can be attached to the preceding line, as in Good News Translation, or it can stand as a separate sentence by saying “They were never again a threat” or “They were never able to attack Israel again.”

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.