Neither will I travel in the company of sickly envy: The word translated sickly refers to something that has melted down. New American Bible translates sickly envy as “consuming jealousy,” which is not bad, but the main function of the adjective is to cast envy in as bad a light as possible. Sickly envy refers to the desire of the leaders of the mystery religions to keep their secret knowledge confined to themselves and their membership. Solomon will not go down that road, travel in that company; he will not be like them. With this as his attitude, envy might well be described as “pitiful, contemptible, pathetic.” One approach would be “I will not keep my knowledge to myself just because I am jealous and don’t want anyone else to know as much as I do.”

For envy does not associate with wisdom: Compare 2.24. Good News Translation offers a good translation. Other possibilities are “Such an attitude has nothing to do with Wisdom” and “… is not the way [or, path] of Wisdom.”

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.