Then he makes for it a niche that befits it: A niche is a small opening in a wall where a person might set something. This is probably the meaning, as we see from the next line, but the Greek word used here is not that precise. Translators could render this line well with “Then he finds [or, makes] a nice place on a wall to put it” or “He makes a special place on the wall where he can place it.”

And sets it in the wall, and fastens it there with iron: For iron there is no indication in the Greek whether we are talking about “iron nails” (Good News Translation), “an iron clamp” (New Jerusalem Bible), iron bands, or whatever, and it is not important. The ironic thing is that the “god” is made out of inferior wood with flawed workmanship, and the carver has to use the strength of iron to keep it standing. Iron is the last word in the Greek sentence that begins with verse 11; the author has probably built up carefully from the flimsy tree mentioned in that verse to the solid iron restraint imposed on the idol at the end of the sentence.

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.