Good News Translation has a paragraph break at the beginning of the previous verse, but we recommend placing it here. The previous paragraph deals with false friends; this one centers on good friends.

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: Good News Translation makes this figure of speech clearer by saying “A loyal friend is like a safe shelter.” A shelter is a place where a person can go to escape from threatening situations, such as the weather. Loyal friends are like that; they put themselves between you and the threat. Contemporary English Version doesn’t use the metaphor of a shelter, saying “Loyal friends will protect you.”

He that has found one has found a treasure: The loyal friend is compared here to wealth or objects of great value. Something of value is valuable precisely because it is rare—like a loyal friend. Another way to express this comparison is “When you find one [a friend], it is like finding a treasure.”

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.