“The wicked flee when no one pursues”: In Hebrew “The wicked” is a masculine singular noun, but it is probably to be understood as collective, that is, “wicked people.” See 2.22. “Flee” or “run away” suggests cowardice or a bad conscience in contrast to the confidence of “the righteous” in the next line. “Pursues” means here to follow or chase someone in order to capture them. To make this idea clear it may be necessary to say “even though no one is chasing them.”

“But the righteous are bold as a lion”: “The righteous”, as throughout Proverbs, refers to honest, good, honorable people. See 3.33. “Bold” translates a verb that means “to trust.” In 3.5; 14.26; and 16.20 it is used in the sense of trusting or having confidence in the Lord. The thought is that these people are confident because of the assurance they have from the Lord. Accordingly, Bible en français courant translates the whole saying “Whoever acts wrongly flees even if no one chases him, but whoever has a good conscience has as much assurance as a young lion.” :For “lion” see 19.12.

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 .