“Iron sharpens iron”: Some interpreters modify the Hebrew vowels so that this line says “Iron is sharpened by iron,” which Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says is the correct meaning of the Hebrew as it stands. This line expresses the common human experience that a knife or other iron tool can be sharpened by using a file or some other iron tool.

“And one man sharpens another”: This line is literally “and a man sharpens the face of his friend,” which Hebrew Old Testament Text Project translates as “and a man is sharpened by the presence of his friend.” The word “sharpens” in the first line means literally to put a thin keen edge or fine point on a piece of metal. “Sharpens” is used figuratively here to mean “to make or cause a person to be keen in perception, quick witted, or full of energy.” Revised English Bible translates “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens the wits of another.” This figure of one person “sharpening” another is not natural in some languages and some adjustment must be made; for example, “As iron . . . so one person awakens the mind of another” or “. . . so one person makes another person have keen senses.” The whole saying is translated in one language as “People use an iron tool to sharpen iron. In the same way one person helps the thinking of another person.”

As with the translation of other similes in this chapter, it may be good to reverse the order of the lines; for example, “People always learn from each other, just as they use a knife to sharpen a knife.”

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 .