Therefore at that time also, changed into all forms, it served thy all-nourishing bounty: The subject is still creation. The author is expressing himself in terms of Greek ideas concerning physical nature, that there was one primeval substance, out of which all the elements of the natural world were formed. The translator cannot be expected to convey all this to the reader, but Good News Translation “Creation assumed all kinds of forms” comes very close to what the author intends, and does so rather simply. It served thy all-nourishing bounty may be rendered “to show how you provide generously” (Good News Translation). The words “show how you” in Good News Translation are unnecessary and better left out, so these lines are better rendered “… all kinds of forms to provide generously….” Contemporary English Version is also helpful with “And so on that occasion, the forces of the universe changed the way they work, in order to serve your purpose.”

According to the desire of those who had need: As the footnotes in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation indicate, there is an ambiguity in the Greek here. Those who had need can also be translated “those who prayed [or, asked].” This is the translator’s choice, but the Handbook prefers the choice of Good News Translation: “all who pray to you.” Good News Translation omits desire as clearly included within the idea of praying, but for this line translators could say “by answering the prayers of all who pray to you.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• And so on that occasion the things you made took on all kinds of forms to provide generously by answering the prayers of all who prayed to you.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.