Whether absent or present, they were equally distressed: Those referred to as absent or present are of course the Egyptians, but it is not clear what they were absent from or present with. Some think of it in relation to their homes or to the royal court; for instance, New English Bible and several others have “At home and abroad.” Others think of it in relation to the Israelites: whether the Egyptians were present with the Israelites or absent from them in Egypt, the plagues affected them all. Most scholars favor the second view, which Good News Translation has adopted, but it has not expressed it very clearly. This interpretation is probably the right one. We should think it refers to Egyptians who lived in the vicinity of the Israelites or those who lived elsewhere in the land—the plagues fell on them all, even if they had never seen an Israelite.

Most translators will find it easier to deal with this verse as a separate sentence (so Good News Translation) rather than to join it with the next verse. In any case it may prove difficult to translate the verse clearly without making it longer. A suitable model for translators, for instance, is:

• It made no difference whether they [or, those ungodly people] lived near your people or far away from them, they all suffered just the same.

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.