Except David and Hezekiah and Josiah they all sinned greatly: The pronoun they refers to the kings of Judah, and it would be helpful to say this. Good News Translation has a good model for this line: “All the kings [of Judah], except David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, were terrible sinners.” Contemporary English Version is also helpful with “David, Hezekiah, and Josiah were good kings, but the other kings of Judah sinned terribly.”

For they forsook the law of the Most High: We suggest making this one short sentence, saying “They abandoned [or, rejected] the Law of the Most High.” For the Most High, see 4.10.

The kings of Judah came to an end: We recommend staying with the Greek here, rather than following Good News Translation by using the Hebrew. This may be translated simply “The kingdom of Judah came to an end” or “In the end [or, Finally] no more kings ruled in Judah.”

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.