If you own something, he will live with you is literally “If you have, he will live with you.” If you own something may be translated “As long as you have money.” New English Bible provides an excellent model for he will live with you: “he will be your constant companion.” The text does not necessarily mean that the rich person will actually move into your home. It means that as long as you have financial resources or property, he will be right there. So we may say “As long as you have money, the rich person will stay near you [or, pretend to be your friend].”

He will drain your resources and he will not care: Drain your resources (Good News Translation “drain you dry”) means to use up your money. He will not care provides a good model. Good News Translation expresses this as “gladly,” which also works well. For the whole line we could say “He will use up everything you have and it won’t bother him a bit.”

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.