This verse is another of the typical sayings that contrast the behavior of the wicked person and the righteous person.

“A wicked man puts on a bold face”: “Puts on a bold face” is literally “makes strong [in] his face.” In English “puts on a bold face” or “puts up a bold front” (New International Version) means to pretend to be sure of yourself, or more colloquially “to bluff your way” (Contemporary English Version). Two examples of renderings in other languages are: “The evildoer pretends and makes out he is a good person. . .” and “The bad man makes out he knows everything, and just goes ahead. . ..”

“But an upright man considers his ways”: The meaning of “considers his ways” is something like “give[s] thought to. . .” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version) or “thinks about what he is doing.” However, as the footnotes in Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version show, there is a variant in the Hebrew text between what is written and what is traditionally read aloud; the written text, which Hebrew Old Testament Text Project favors (“C” rating), has “establishes his ways,” and the text that is read is “understands his way.” The versions that have “considers” or its equivalent are following the form of the text that is read. The written form “establishes his ways” has the sense of “is sure of his way” (Scott, and see Good News Translation) or “the honest . . . whose steps are firm” (New Jerusalem Bible). Translators may follow either of these possibilities.

Good News Translation has restructured the whole verse by reversing the order of the lines. This makes the positive statement about the righteous person come first; and this approach may appeal to translators in some other languages also.

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 .