Where are … the princes … those who rule over the beasts … those who have sport … who hoard up silver … those who scheme to get silver…?: Here is a third rhetorical question, but a long one. Good News Translation introduces the various groups of people mentioned here with the first clause from verse 19, saying “those who have tried have vanished.” However, there is a serious problem with the interpretation Good News Translation gives to this passage. The text does not actually say that all these people “have tried” to find wisdom. Further, saying that “those who have tried have vanished” comes dangerously close to saying that no one should try to get wisdom. It is not that no one should try to become wise. It is rather that ultimate wisdom, wisdom’s source, cannot be found by mortals, and princes and such have certainly not found it. (Note that the Greek word for princes in this context does not refer to the sons of kings, but to “rulers” [Good News Translation] in general.) Whether they were trying to find it or not is not said. A better approach, if the translator has structured verse 15 in some such form as suggested above (“Has anyone ever found where Wisdom lives…”), is to frame verses 16-18 as a series of questions asking whether these people have found where Wisdom lives. We will come to this. But first, there are several problems of interpretation within these lines.

Those who rule over the beasts on the earth; those who have sport with the birds of the air: Some scholars see in this a reference to Nebuchadnezzar (see Jer 27.6; Dan 2.38; Jdt 11.7). More likely, however, the writer is saying that those who for sport or whatever reason have close contact with wildlife have not learned the lessons wild creatures have to teach. See particularly Job 12.7-9 and 35.11. This agrees with the interpretation given to the lines by Good News Translation and New English Bible, except that the text does not really say anything about hunting birds or animals, or even taming wild animals or raising birds (Contemporary English Version), though this is not unreasonable. The two lines together need mean nothing more than “those who are familiar with the ways of wild animals and birds.” Job 41.5 speaks of people who play with birds, so Moore thinks these lines refer to people who have the money and time to keep birds as pets, but this is no more evident than a reference to hunting. Translators are free to follow any of the above interpretations, except identifying the ruler as Nebuchadnezzar.

Who hoard up silver and gold, in which men trust, and there is no end to their getting: One question here is the meaning of the Greek noun rendered getting. It may mean “possessions,” in which case there is no end to their getting may be rendered “whose possessions were unlimited” (Moore; similarly New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). If, however, the word is taken to mean “obtaining” (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New English Bible), another question has to do with the pronoun their. Does it refer back to men (that is, people in general) or to silver and gold? If it refers to men, Good News Translation correctly interprets the whole clause as “will do anything to get.” If it refers to silver and gold, it would be better stated “there is always more to get.” Any of these approaches can be defended, but opinion seems to favor “possessions” as the meaning of the noun, in which case their clearly refers to the people who accumulate wealth. (The same word is clearly used in the sense of “possessions” in verse 24, where Revised Standard Version renders it “possesses.”) If this interpretation is adopted, these lines can be translated (so as to fit in with the restructuring suggested above) “What about people with unlimited possessions, who hoard silver and gold, which people put so much trust in?”

Those who scheme to get silver, and are anxious, whose labors are beyond measure: This verse is quite obscure. Scheme to get silver can mean “work with silver,” that is, work as a silversmith. Whose labors are beyond measure is literally “and there is no searching out of their works/deeds.” There are three possible interpretations for this verse: (a) those who anxiously scheme to gain silver, but whose works amount to nothing (Good News Translation, New American Bible); (b) those who carefully work with silver, but whose works amount to nothing (New Jerusalem Bible); (c) those who work silver with care and unbelievable skill (New English Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Any of these approaches can be defended, but the last one seems more convincing. Silversmiths, along with any metal workers, were counted as men of “wisdom” (see 1 Chr 22.15-16).

If the interpretations arrived at above are adopted, the following restructuring for verses 15-19a may be suggested. Those who adopt other interpretations of the points discussed can still fit them to this pattern:

• Has anyone ever found where Wisdom lives, or entered her [or, its] treasure house? Have the rulers of the nations found Wisdom’s home? Have those who hunt wild animals and birds, and know their ways, discovered Wisdom? What about people with unlimited possessions, who hoard silver and gold, which some people put so much trust in? Have silversmiths, with all their care and unbelievable skill, found Wisdom’s home? No—they have all disappeared….

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.