Send her forth from the holy heavens, and from the throne of thy glory send her: There is no particular difference in the meaning of the two verbs translated send they may easily be translated as one. Holy heavens refers to dwelling of God in heaven. It is described as holy since God is there. In verse 4 Wisdom was described as sitting beside God’s throne. The throne of thy glory may refer to the throne where God sits in his glory, rather than to the throne as glorious, as in Good News Translation. In this case we might translate “Send her down from the holy heavens [or, from the place where you live], from the throne where you sit in your glory [or, power].”

That she may be with me and toil: See 8.7, where Wisdom’s labors are spoken of, although with a different term. This and the next line are purposes clauses, stating why Solomon prays for Wisdom to come down to him. Good News Translation establishes this by saying “so that….” The sentence is not too long, and the thought flows smoothly.

And that I may learn what is pleasing to thee: This echoes the third line of verse 9. If translators wish, they could express the previous line and this one as a separate sentence: “Then she may work at my side, so that I may learn what pleases you.” The final clause may also be expressed as “and teach me what is pleasing to you” (Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.