When he put on his glorious robe and clothed himself with superb perfection: It is good to begin a new paragraph here, as does Good News Translation, since the long series of comparisons is over and we are more directly describing Simon’s appearance. “Simon” (Good News Translation) should be expressed as the subject here. For glorious robe, see 45.7. Good News Translation translates clothed himself with superb perfection (compare 45.8 and the comments there) as “dressed in perfect splendor,” but moves it to a point later in the sentence; this works well in English. However, the first two lines of this verse may be combined as follows: “When Simon put on [or, wore] his magnificent robe, he looked perfectly splendid.”

And went up to the holy altar, he made the court of the sanctuary glorious: Good News Translation expresses this well. The court of the sanctuary (Good News Translation “the Temple courtyard”) was a large open area in the Temple. The altar was located there (see 35.6).

An alternative model for this verse is:

• When Simon put on [or, wore] his magnificent robe, he looked perfectly splendid as he went up to the holy [or, sacred/Lord’s] altar. He made the courtyard [or, wide flat space] around the Temple look truly beautiful.

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.