The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a man of blood: Good News Translation provides a workable model here, but it may be expanded by saying:

• Food means life itself to poor people, and taking it away from them is the same as murdering them.

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.