“By me your days will be multiplied”: In 3.2 and 4.10 the teacher uses expressions like this when speaking of his own words or teachings. Some of the ancient versions have “by it” in place of “by me”, thus making a connection back to “fear of the Lord” and “knowledge of the Holy One.” However, it seems more likely that “me” refers to Wisdom. In that case it will be clearer to say, for example, “Thanks to wisdom, you will live a long time” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) or “I am Wisdom. If you follow me, you will live. . .” (Contemporary English Version). “Days . . . multiplied” is a biblical way of saying “You will live a long life.”

If “by me” is the original text, this line is the only place in verses 7-12 where Wisdom is referred to in the first person. Some translations prefer to keep the third person reference by saying, “Wisdom will make you stay a long time on the earth.”

“Years will be added to your life”: This line repeats the thought of the first one with “years” replacing “days”. Note that Good News Translation reduces the two lines to one.

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 .