May the bones of the twelve prophets revive from where they lie: This is almost identical with 46.12. See the comments there. The twelve prophets refers to what is known in the Jewish Bible as “The Book of the Twelve.” Christians sometimes call them “the minor prophets.” They are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. In some languages it may be helpful to name these prophets in a footnote.

For they comforted the people of Jacob and delivered them with confident hope: “Encouraged” (Good News Translation) is a better choice of words than comforted. Here Jacob refers to the people of Israel. Delivered them with confident hope may be rendered “rescued them by giving them hope [or, making them very hopeful].”

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.