This verse expresses the belief that a king will prosper if he rules with integrity and justice. The two lines are parallel with essentially the same meaning.

“Loyalty and faithfulness preserve the king”: For “Loyalty” and “faithfulness” refer to 3.3. They are used frequently in the Old Testament to describe the nature of God. The first, chesed, is often rendered “lovingkindness” or “mercy”; the second, ʾemeth, is usually rendered “faithfulness” or “truth.” As qualities of the human ruler who represents the Lord, they may be expressed as “faithful love and loyalty” (New Jerusalem Bible), “love and faithfulness” (New International Version), or “loyalty and good faith” (Revised English Bible). Contemporary English Version understands the nouns to refer to qualities of God, rather than to qualities of the king, and translates “Rulers are protected by God’s mercy and loyalty.” In many languages the qualities named here have to be expressed by using verbs of action or attitude; for example, “If a king rules in a way that is straight and treats everybody fairly. . .” or “If the king does good to all his people, and he loves and helps them. . ..” The sense of “preserve the king” is “protect the king” or “keep him safe.”

“And his throne is upheld by righteousness”: “His throne is upheld” has the same sense as “preserve the king” in the previous line. Another way to express this is “his throne is made secure” (New International Version); note also Good News Translation “A king will remain in power. . ..” The quality of the king that ensures this is given by Revised Standard Version and some other versions as “righteousness”; however, the Hebrew text has the same word chesed as is found in the first line. “Righteousness” is based on the Septuagint, which has the same text here as in the similar lines in 16.12 and 25.5. Along with Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (“B” rating), the Handbook recommends that translators follow the Hebrew and render the text with something like “through love his throne is made secure” (New International Version) or “they must be merciful for their kingdoms to last” (Contemporary English Version).

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 .