This verse contains four separate problems, which are found in its four clauses, and which we can conveniently deal with separately.

They cannot judge their own cause: There is a textual problem here. The clause can be read as in Revised Standard Version or as “They cannot make judgments.” Most translations prefer the first option; for example, Good News Translation has “They can’t make decisions about their own affairs” and Contemporary English Version says “They can’t make their own decisions.”

They cannot … deliver one who is wronged: There is another textual problem in this clause. It can be read as in Revised Standard Version or as “They cannot redress a wrong.” Most translations prefer the first option; for example, Good News Translation says “They can’t … give justice to someone who has been wronged” and Contemporary English Version has “They can’t … free a person who has been wronged.”

They have no power is literally “being unable.” This clause can be taken with the clause before it or with the clause following it. Revised Standard Version takes it with the previous clause and makes a separate statement of it. Moore, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Contemporary English Version associate it with what follows, so that the overall sense of the verse is “They cannot judge … or deliver … since they are as helpless as….” Here “since they are as helpless” renders “being unable.” This is quite possible. Good News Translation says “… they can do absolutely nothing. They are as useless as…,” so it seems to be trying to have it both ways. However, it is probably interpreting “being unable” in the same way as Revised Standard Version, but brings in “They are as useless as…” to help solve the next problem. “Helpless” would be better than “useless” in the context.

They are like crows between heaven and earth: The Greek says the idols are “like crows between the sky and the earth”—whatever that means. New Jerusalem Bible connects it with the previous clause by saying “They are as helpless as crows between sky and ground”; but crows in flight are not a picture of helplessness. New English Bible, which also connects it with the previous clause, is aware of this, so it says “They are as helpless as crows tossed about in mid air.” But this only makes the problem worse; crows simply do not get “tossed about” in the air; they are a picture of control. Good News Translation ventures a guess with “They are as useless as crows flying around in the air” (similarly Contemporary English Version). But why crows? Are crows useful when they are not in flight? Cautious translators will stop right here. Long ago, a suggestion was made by Ball that crows should read “clouds.” The Hebrew words for “cloud” and “crow/raven” are strikingly similar. If the correct word is “clouds,” it also explains why there is no verb here. (What are the crows doing between the sky and the ground? The text doesn’t say they are “flying around” or “tossed about.”) Moore embraces this solution, and translates “for they are as helpless as the clouds between heaven and earth.” This can be defended on textual grounds (though it is only a conjecture) and it makes good sense. Braver translators will want to give serious thought to saying something like “They are as helpless as drifting clouds.” In this case a footnote would be in order: “as drifting clouds; Greek as crows between the sky and the earth.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• They are unable to make their own decisions or give justice to a person who has been wronged. They are as helpless as drifting clouds.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.