“Righteousness guards him whose way is upright”: In this saying “Righteousness”, as in 10.2 and 11.4, refers to fairness, honesty, or goodness. “Guards” renders the same Hebrew verb used in verse 3 but has a different sense in this context. “Him whose way is upright” is literally “the blameless of way,” meaning a person whose way of living is upright. We may also say, for example, “those who live right” or “people who live good lives.” One way of expressing the whole line is “If a person does good, his good behavior will protect him.”

“But sin overthrows the wicked”: This line may be read with “sin” as the subject, as in Revised Standard Version. In the Hebrew text “sin” translates an abstract noun, “sinfulness.” Note that Good News Translation has “wickedness” as the subject. In the Hebrew “the wicked” is an abstract noun, not a class of people. Accordingly, Revised English Bible translates “but wickedness brings sinners down.” For line 2 to be parallel with line 1, either “sin” or “wickedness” must be made parallel and contrasting with “Righteousness”. This leaves the one not chosen as the subject of the line to contrast with “him whose way is upright”. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation illustrate these two possible renderings. “Overthrows” renders a different word than that used in 11.11 and 12.7, but the sense is the same, to cause something to be ruined or destroyed. New Jerusalem Bible says “sin causes the ruin of the wicked.” We may also translate, for example, “but if you do evil things, you will destroy yourself.”

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 .