“The lambs will provide your clothing”: This line is literally “lambs for your clothing” and means that “the lambs” or young sheep will provide wool so that you can spin yarn and weave cloth to make your clothing. This line may be translated, for example, “Wool [or, hair] from the sheep will give you clothing.”

“And the goats the price of a field”: In this line we understand that the goats can be sold or traded so that “you can buy more land.” Good News Translation offers a model translation: “You can make clothes from the wool of your sheep and buy land with the money you get from selling some of your goats.”

In some languages verses 25 and 26 are clearer if they are restructured as a sequence of activity that happens in stages; for example, “When you see that the grass is long on your land, cut it and store it so that your animals will have feed and so that the new grass will come up. Then later you will be able to sell goats and buy [more] land. And you can take wool from the sheep and make clothes for yourself.”

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 .