The two lines of this verse are parallel in both form and meaning. The thought seems to be that when evil people suffer while righteous people do not, the evil people are in some sense suffering for, or in place of, the righteous.

“The wicked is a ransom for the righteous”: A “ransom” is what is given (often a sum of money) to set free a person from a penalty or situation that he is subject to. Taken literally this leads to an interpretation of the verse which suggests that “the righteous” would, in the ordinary course of justice, be punished, but that “The wicked” gets the punishment in place of “the righteous”. Why “the righteous” should be liable to be punished is not clear, and this is a somewhat difficult concept in the context of Proverbs. Another view expressed by Scott is that, as in 11.8, “The wicked” gets into the trouble he has planned for “the righteous”, and in that sense is a “ransom” or “substitute” who takes the place of “the righteous”. Many English versions translate literally “is a ransom for. . .”; and this is very difficult for average readers to understand. Good News Translation (which renders the whole verse as a single sentence) follows the second approach referred to above and says: “The wicked bring on themselves the suffering they try to cause good people.”

“And the faithless for the upright”: “The faithless” matches “The wicked” in the first line, and “the upright” matches “the righteous”. For “faithless” refer to 2.22, where it is translated “treacherous.” The word “for” in Revised Standard Version expresses a Hebrew word that means “in place of” or “instead of”; and it is the parallel term for “a ransom” in the first line. The sense of this term has a bearing on the meaning we give to “ransom” in this context and supports the understanding of “a ransom” as “a substitute” or someone who suffers “instead of” another person. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy supports this idea by translating “The false and evil person will suffer in place of the just and honorable.” Following the other line of interpretation, we recommend Good News Translation as a model translation.

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 .