“Many seek the favor of a ruler”: “Favor” is literally “face.” See 19.6. Here “face” shows the attitude or mind of the ruler. Good News Translation calls it “the good will of the ruler.” Bible en français courant says “the approval of their chief.” In this line people seek to obtain the good will of the person in power.

“But from the Lord a man gets justice”: By contrast it is from the Lord that a person receives impartial justice, what he deserves. “Gets” is not found in the Hebrew, but Revised Standard Version and others add it as necessary in the translation. New Jerusalem Bible and some others say that justice “comes from” the Lord. For “justice” see the comments on 1.3. For a model translation see Good News 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 .