He arranged his works in an eternal order: His works (Good News Translation “everything”) refers to the heavenly bodies. This line may be rendered “He arranged the heavenly bodies in an eternal order.” An American Translation‘s translation is insightful: “He organized his works in a system forever.”

And their dominion for all generations: Dominion here refers to the rule of the heavenly bodies over day and night; see Gen 1.16. The Greek word for dominion may also be rendered “elements,” according to the first Revised Standard Version footnote. “Elements” expresses how the ancient Greeks saw the world, but dominion fits our world-view now. The second Revised Standard Version footnote observes that all generations is literally “their generations.” The pronoun “their” refers back to God’s works. Good News Translation renders this line well with “and decreed that it should be that way forever.”

They neither hunger nor grow weary, and they do not cease from their labors: Three things are said of the heavenly bodies here. The Greek, and Revised Standard Version, put two of them in the first line and the third one in the second line. Good News Translation puts one in the first line and the other two in the second line. It does this because it introduces the long phrase “Not one part of creation” as the subject, and the lines are more evenly balanced by putting the second verb in the second line. Good News Translation‘s translation conveys the meaning of the Greek well, but it would not be pressing this rendering too far to translate “No heavenly body ever grows hungry; not one grows tired or stops its work.” In English “heavenly bodies” is the general term for the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Some such general term is needed here; for example, “None of the things that give light in the sky ever grow hungry….”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• He placed the sun, the moon, and the stars in everlasting order,
and assigned them their rule over day and night.
No heavenly body ever grows hungry;
not one grows tired or stops its work.

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.