A multitude of wise men is the salvation of the world: Good News Translation begins with “No indeed.” This does not correspond to anything in the Greek text, but it serves well to point up the contrast between having wisdom freely available and keeping it secret (verse 23). Another approach along the same line would be “No indeed—the more wise people there are in the world, the safer the world will be.” A completely different approach is “No indeed—it is the great number of wise people that keeps the world from disaster.”

And a sensible king is the stability of his people: Possible alternative models are “and a nation has security when it has a sensible king” and “when a nation has a sensible king, its people will be secure.”

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.