Translators have made many attempts to arrive at a meaningful translation of this verse. The Revised Standard Version rendering makes several changes in the Hebrew text; see the footnote. As it stands the Hebrew text of the whole verse appears to say, “The wicked desires the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous gives.” In this form there is no clear contrast between the lines and in addition line 2 seems to be incomplete.

“The strong tower of the wicked comes to ruin”: Revised English Bible modifies the Hebrew to get “The stronghold of the wicked crumbles like clay.” The word translated “net” in the literal rendering above may also be understood to mean “gain,” “booty,” or “refuge.” Taken in one of these senses line 1 may be translated: “The wicked covets the gain [or, booty] of evil people,” or “The wicked person desires the refuge of evil people,” meaning that the wicked desire the shelter [protection] given to them by evil people.

“But the root of the righteous stands firm”: This is literally “but the root of the righteous gives.” The word rendered “gives” here also carries the sense of being productive. Understood in this way line 2 may be rendered, for example, “but the root of the righteous is productive.” If the normal sense of the term “gives” applies, then God is the one who gives a root (meaning stability or firmness) to the righteous. Taken in this sense we may translate the whole verse, for example, “Wicked people covet the wealth of evil people, but God gives good people a way to earn.”

One translation that is similar to this is Bible en français courant: “Evil people covet dishonest profit, but only the persistence of good people is profitable.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .