This saying pictures the evil person as being in an inferior relationship to the good person. Its two lines are parallel but not contrasting; the second line reinforces or emphasizes what the first line affirms.

“The evil bow down before the good”: The verb “bow down”, used here for the first time in Proverbs, is a gesture that may express submission, respect, or greeting. It involves bending the upper body forward and perhaps kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground in the presence of the other; an example is the behavior of Abraham in Gen 23.7, 12. In this context the gesture has the sense of acknowledging a superior, that is, it expresses submission or homage. In languages in which it is not clear what is meant by this gesture, it may be possible to say, for example, “Bad people will make a sign of submission to good people,” or if a local custom replaces “bow down”, the translation may say, for example, “Bad people will clasp their hands in the presence of good people.”

“The wicked at the gates of the righteous”: The verb “bow down” in line 1 serves also in line 2. “The wicked” is parallel with “The evil” while “the righteous” is parallel with “the good”. Bowing “at the gates” pictures the wicked waiting humbly at the gate, or entrance of the dwelling of the righteous, to beg or ask some favor. Note that Good News Translation has not kept “at the gates” here but has restructured the whole line to say “humbly beg their favor.” The phrase “at the gates” may be expressed as “[beg] at the door.” We may also say, for example, “The wicked have to wait for the righteous to help them” or “The wicked beg for something from good people.”

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 .