The wealth of the unjust will dry up like a torrent: A torrent is a rushing stream of water. The Greek simply says “river.” Ben Sira is thinking of the wadis of Palestine; these are rivers that flow during part of the year, but are dry riverbeds at other times. When these streams are full, they can be dangerous. This will be familiar to readers in some parts of the world, but in other areas readers will need help here. The image appears in Jer 15.18, where Good News Translation translates “like a stream that goes dry in the summer.” So we may translate this line as “Wealth that has been gained dishonestly will dry up like a stream that goes dry in the summer heat.”

And crash like a loud clap of thunder in a rain: Frankly, we do not understand what Revised Standard Version (or New Revised Standard Version) means by crash. The Greek verb here can mean make a loud noise. New English Bible translates it “die away.” In the context it has to refer to the sound of thunder dying away. Like the full, fast-flowing stream that goes dry, the deafening thunder becomes silence. So we may translate the whole verse as follows:

• Wealth that has been obtained dishonestly will be lost; it is like a river that goes dry in the summer heat, like thunder that quickly dies away as a storm passes by.

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.