From the moon comes the sign for feast days: Feast days refers to the Jewish holidays; Good News Translation translates “holy days.” For this line we could say “The moon tells us when holy days come.”

A light that wanes when it has reached the full: This simply refers to the fact that the moon grows until it is full and then diminishes. So Good News Translation translates “Its light grows full and then grows dim.”

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.