“Let them drink and forget their poverty”: The verb form is actually singular in Hebrew, but the reference is clearly back to the people described in verse 6, and the plural “let them drink” is required if plurals have been used there. This is not an imperative, and it may have the sense of “they can drink to forget. . .”; in one language, for example, it is translated as “If they want to, they can drink and they won’t think any more about. . ..” The noun rendered “their poverty” is found only in Proverbs; for comments on its meaning, see 6.11. Since “poverty” does not quite seem to fit what is described in verse 6, New Jerusalem Bible renders the term “misfortune” in this context.

“And remember their misery no more”: “Remember . . . no more” has the same sense as “forget” in the previous line, and “misery” is the matching term for “poverty”. “Misery” renders a Hebrew word that basically means “labor” or “toil,” but which often has the sense of “trouble” (Revised English Bible) or “suffering.” Good News Translation translates “unhappiness” and Contemporary English Version “how . . . miserable they feel.”

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 .