“A worthless witness mocks at justice”: For “worthless” see 6.12 and 16.27. “Witness” is as in 6.19. For “mocks” see 1.26. The “worthless witness” in a trial makes fun or scorns justice, that is, “mocks” the rights of others to a fair trial. He does this by not telling the truth as a witness. We may translate, for example, “A worthless witness lies and mocks the rights of others.”

“And the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity”: The figurative language of this line appears to represent the wicked person as enjoying or getting pleasure from being evil. See Good News Translation “Wicked people love the taste of evil.” Here Good News Translation has kept the figurative expression through “taste of evil.” Contemporary English Version has “and criminals think crime is really delicious.” In some languages it is necessary to adjust the figure into a simile by saying, for example, “and bad people swallow evil like they swallow their food.”

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 .