The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven: The glory of the stars is rendered “The shining stars” by Good News Translation, “beautiful, twinkling stars” by Contemporary English Version, and “The brilliant stars” by New English Bible. To say that they are the beauty of heaven is to say that they make the sky beautiful. Good News Translation‘s addition of “night sky” seems to help.

A gleaming array in the heights of the Lord: A gleaming array is literally “a gleaming ornament.” Since there are many stars, Good News Translation translates “brilliant ornaments.” The phrase may also be rendered “gleaming stars.” The phrase in the heights of the Lord (rendering the same Greek phrase as in 26.16) refers to the sky.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• The Lord’s high heaven [or, The sky where the Lord lives] is decorated at night
with beautiful shining [or, gleaming] stars.

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.