For they will see the end of the wise man that is, the ungodly may outlive the wise. Good News Translation translates “The wise may die young.” The only thing wrong with this is that “young” is not necessarily implied; it is just that they die before their time, before one would expect them to. See the note on verse 7. The connector For may be omitted as in Good News Translation and our model below.

And will not understand what the Lord purposed for him, and for what he kept him safe: The reference is to the Lord’s keeping the wise person safe. Good News Translation translates well. The idea is that the ungodly may outlive a person of wisdom, but since they do not know God’s intentions (2.22), they do not realize that God’s purpose in taking the person is to keep him safe from evil (compare 3.1; 4.11).

An alternative model is:

• Wise people may die before reaching old age [or, before their time], but ungodly people will never understand that this is God’s way of keeping wise people safe.

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.