This saying is one statement, not two. It makes the point that the best thing parents can pass on to their children is an example of upright living.

“A righteous man who walks in integrity”: The Hebrew is literally “walking in-his-integrity righteous.” The verb “walks” refers to a person’s way of life, so the sense is “a good person living uprightly.” For “walks in integrity” refer to 2.7. In dealing with the participle “walking,” some English versions render the line as a relative clause; for example, Revised Standard Version or New Jerusalem Bible (“the upright whose ways are blameless”). Others take the participle as a main verb: “The righteous man leads a blameless life” (New International Version). Since this is a general statement, the singular “A righteous man” can be just as well expressed in the plural; for example, “Good people live right” (Contemporary English Version).

“Blessed are his sons after him”: This is the consequence of the first line—a person’s children are “blessed” as a consequence of his righteous living. In current English “blessed” may also be expressed as “happy” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible) or “fortunate” (Good News Translation). Contemporary English Version understands “blessed” to mean the blessing of God, “God blesses. . ..” “Sons” is not intended to refer only to male children, so modern English versions generally have “children.” The meaning of “after him” is that children come “after” their parents in the next generation.

In some translations the saying is restructured as a conditional statement; for example, “If someone leads a good and upright life, happy are his children after him” (Revised English Bible) and “When a man lives . . . his sons are fortunate. . .” (Scott). Good News Translation also reverses the order of the two lines: “Children are fortunate if they have a father who. . ..” These are all good examples for translators to follow.

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 .