People take gold and make crowns for the heads of their gods: The subject of this clause is simply “they” in Greek (see Revised Standard Version footnote). We could take this to be the worshipers or the craftsmen who make the idols. Moore translates “these craftsmen.” But it does not hurt to be vague here; People is good enough. Take gold and make crowns will be natural style in a number of languages, but in others the phrase is easily reduced to “make gold crowns” (Good News Translation). The Greek does not actually say that they “put them on” (Good News Translation) the idols. But a translation of the Greek that says “they fashion gold crowns on the heads of their gods” would be just as good as Revised Standard Version, which has to find its way around the preposition “on” in Greek by saying the crowns are for the heads …. To be perfectly literal about it, the Greek text does not say that the crowns are separate objects; they could have been carved from the same block of wood as the head, and then overlaid with gold. If this was the case, it is only of archeological interest, and need not worry the translator. Gods may be translated as “idols” or “images of their gods” (see verse 4).

As they would for a girl who loves ornaments: This clause begins the verse in Greek, which is literally “And as for a jewelry-loving [one word] girl, they….” The word translated “jewelry-loving” does not necessarily apply only to jewelry. It could refer to clothing or any type of accessories, but with “crowns” in the context, “jewelry” (Good News Translation) is appropriate.

Good News Translation restructures the whole verse effectively by saying “The people … put them on the heads of their gods, as if these idols were girls….” Even Revised Standard Version, which mirrors the Greek, has slightly restructured the text, or at least reordered it. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation express the same idea in two slightly different ways. Translators may choose to follow either version.

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.