This verse and verse 28 describe the ideal king as one who upholds justice in the community he rules. Here the focus is on his treatment of the wicked. The two lines of this saying are parallel and have essentially the same meaning.

“A wise king winnows the wicked”: For “winnows” see verse 8. The sense in this verse is that the king separates out evildoers from the community; he “sifts out” (Revised English Bible) or “blows away” the wicked.

“And drives the wheel over them”: In this context “the wheel” is probably the wheel of a cart that is used for threshing harvested grain, “the threshing wheel” (New International Version). Threshing is the process of breaking the grain away from the stalks, which comes before winnowing in which the wind blows away the straw and chaff from the good grain. “Drives the wheel over” has practically the same meaning as “winnows” in the first line, separating evildoers from good people in the community. The picture of threshing may also carry a sense of harsh treatment or punishment for the evildoers.

Where other implements are used for threshing, the terms that refer to them may be used here in translation. However, in some cultures and languages the pictures of what happens in ancient harvesting practice may not be very useful in expressing the meaning of this verse. If this is the case, translators may wish to follow the approach of Contemporary English Version, which joins the two lines into a single statement, “A wise ruler severely punishes every criminal,” or Good News Translation, which keeps two lines, “A wise king will find out who is doing wrong, and will punish him without pity.”

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 .