To take away a neighbor’s living is to murder him: Neighbor refers to some other person in the community, not just the person living nearby, so Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version say “someone.” A neighbor’s living may be rendered “what someone needs to earn a living [or, keep himself alive].” Is to murder him may be translated “is the same as [or, like] murdering him.” It does not mean he is going to die immediately, but if the rich person keeps taking away his food, he will die eventually. This line essentially repeats the sense of the previous verse.

To deprive an employee of his wages is to shed blood: See Deut 24.14-15.

We may keep the poetic structure of these two lines or combine them as Good News Translation does. An alternative model is:

• If you take away what someone needs to earn a living or refuse to pay the wages of someone who works for you, that is the same as murdering him.

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.