When the earth was flooded because of him, wisdom again saved it: Just as was the case when Adam sinned, the whole world was in danger because of Cain’s sin. Wisdom stepped in to save Adam (and thereby the world), and here she steps in to save the world again, this time from the flood. The author attributes the flood to Cain’s sin. Good News Translation expresses the idea by focusing on the sin: “Because of that sin….” In languages that do not have a passive, translators may say something like “Because of that sin, God flooded the earth, but Wisdom saved it again” or “… God caused rain to fall and flood the earth….”

Steering the righteous man by a paltry piece of wood: The verb steering implies that Wisdom directed or “guided” (Good News Translation) Noah’s journey on the water. The righteous man is Noah, in contrast to Cain, “an unrighteous man,” in verse 3. New English Bible translates this well with “the one good man.” Noah is known as the first man in the Bible to be called righteous. Paltry means “cheap, plain, almost worthless.” Good News Translation says “flimsy.” The Greek does not speak of a piece of wood, but simply wood; the reference is of course to the ark. In 14.6 the writer will refer to the ark as a “raft.” A possible translation for this line is “She guided the one good man [that there was] in his flimsy wooden boat.” Some translators will be able to say, more exactly, “She piloted [or, steered] ….”

In the verses that follow, not only Noah, but also Abraham, Lot, Jacob, and Joseph will be referred to as a righteous man. The same term or expression should be used for each of these occurrences; in English we prefer “good man” (New English Bible) rather than righteous man (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation).

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.