Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly: This refers to the Israelites looting the bodies of the dead Egyptians. This is not described elsewhere in Scripture, but Jewish legend mentions it. For those translators who need to identify the various participants more precisely, they may say “So your obedient people took the possessions of those ungodly people” (Contemporary English Version).

They sang hymns, O Lord, to thy holy name: The reference is to the song of Moses in Exo 15.1-18 and the song of Miriam in Exo. 15.21. O Lord is a direct address to God. Earlier in this chapter the author has referred to God in the third person (for example, “the Lord” in verse 16) while he praises Wisdom. Here he suddenly interrupts his praise of Wisdom to address God directly. It would be best to keep this if possible, but if it presents a problem, a third person reference may be used; for example, “they sang hymns to the Lord’s holy name.” Holy here means “belongs to God,” and in many languages may be omitted, or one may use another adjective; for example, “your wonderful name.”

And praised with one accord thy defending hand: With one accord means that the Israelites were unanimous in praising God. Good News Translation “together” is only a slight shift of focus. God’s defense of the Israelites is described in terms of his defending hand. Good News Translation does not use this metaphor, and for the line says simply “together they praised you for defending them.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• So your obedient people looted those ungodly people. Together they sang songs praising your wonderful name, O Lord, telling how you protected them.

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.