“A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul”: The thought expressed in line 1 of this saying is similar to that in line 2 of verse 12. For some reason line 2 does not parallel line 1. “Desire” translates the same word used in verse 12 and refers generally to anything that someone wants or wishes for, but does not yet have. “Fulfilled” renders a different verb than that used in verse 12 but has the same sense as there. “Sweet” was used in 3.24 to describe the quality of the sleep of the person who practices sound wisdom. “Sweet to the soul” means pleasant or enjoyable to the person desiring something. Note Good News Translation “How good it is to get what you want!” Bible en français courant has “It is pleasant to satisfy a desire,” and Contemporary English Version “It’s a good feeling to get what you want.”

“But to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools”: There is little point in trying to rephrase this line to make it parallel the first line, so the conjunction “but” may be inappropriate in this context. We can only translate the text as it stands. “Turn away from evil” is used as a command in 3.7. See there for comments. “An abomination” was first used in 3.32. The sense here is that fools hate avoiding evil, which is a negative way of saying that they love doing it.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .