“Then I was beside him like a master workman”: “Beside him” means “close to” in terms of space, that is, “near him” or “next to him.” Revised Standard Version supplies “like”, which makes the expression a simile, but the Hebrew text does not have “like”. The central problem concerns the word rendered “master workman”, which the Revised Standard Version footnote says may also be understood as “little child.” The only change New Revised Standard Version makes in this line is to change “master workman” to “master worker.” The word Revised Standard Version translates as “master workman” occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament and is possibly a word borrowed from Akkadian where it meant “skilled craftsman,” that is, a person who is clever in making or building things.

Others interpret the word to be related to a Hebrew root meaning to care for children as a nurse or foster parent; see Num 11.12; Ruth 4.16; 2 Kgs 10.1. A change in a vowel of this word gives a word meaning “a nursed or fostered child, an infant.”

Many modern translations use such words as “craftsman” or “architect” in their text and, like Revised Standard Version, place “child” in their footnotes. Some use “child” in the text and place “craftsman” or its equivalent in the footnote. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project is of the opinion that both of these solutions are only partly correct. It agrees that the text can mean either “little child” or “master craftsman.” The committee makes two recommendations:

(1) if “little child” is chosen, the translation may say “I was with him as a child”; or
(2) if “master craftsman” is chosen, this does not refer to Wisdom but to God and so should be translated “I was with him who is the master craftsman.”
In relation to the second recommendation, however, we should note that of the English versions which use a term like “master craftsman” only New Jerusalem Bible makes it refer to God, while the others, including Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and Good News Translation, all make the term refer to Wisdom. New International Version says, for instance, “I was the craftsman at his side.”

“I was daily his delight”: “Daily” means every day or all the time. The Hebrew says “I was delight,” but the Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint. “Delight” refers to something in which people take pleasure or joy. It is used, for example, in Psa 119.24 “Your instructions give me pleasure” (Good News Translation). Translations that use “child” in verse 30 tend to use terms that emphasize the kind of pleasure a small child gives to a parent. A common rendering is “I made him happy.”

“Rejoicing before him always”: “Rejoicing” renders a verb meaning to act joyfully or to celebrate. It is used in 1 Sam 18.7 of the women who sang and danced as they greeted David on his return from defeating the Philistines. The only place it is used in reference to children playing and dancing is in Zech 8.5. Wisdom is represented here as dancing to celebrate creation.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .