Or makes it like some worthless animal: Compare the use of the word worthless in 11.15. The useless image the man is working so hard to produce is of some animal that would be of no use if it were real. Translators could say “or like some animal that no one can use for anything.”

Giving it a coat of red paint and coloring its surface red and covering every blemish in it with paint: The red paint here refers to a reddish substance made from earth. These two lines can be compressed, somewhat as Good News Translation has done: “He paints it red all over, covering up every flaw [with paint].” There is irony here in that the man has made an imperfect piece, but he hides every imperfection. He thus knows that the thing he is going to worship is imperfect.

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.