Not only could their damage exterminate men: Damage refers to the wounds a savage animal could inflict on a person.

But the mere sight of them could kill by fright: People could just look at such fearsome creatures and die of fright. So we could say “but could scare them [these people] to death just by looking at them” (Good News Translation) or “but when people just look at those animals, the people will be so afraid [or, terrified] that they die.”

Good News Translation is a good model for translators and helpfully reminds the reader of the argument by repeating “You could have….” Another approach is:

• You could have made animals like these, that not only could maul [or, scratch] people to death [with their claws], but could cause people to die of fright just looking at them.

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.