“The Lord‘s curse is on the house of the wicked”: “Curse” when spoken by a human person calls upon the supernatural to carry out punishment; when spoken by God, as here, it is a pronouncement of punishment on someone or something. It is equivalent to a sentence given by a court or a spell in sorcery. The “house of the wicked” refers to the household or family of those who are wicked. For “wicked” see 2.22. It may be more natural to express the thought of this line as active, such as “The Lord puts a curse on the homes of wicked people,” or as a passive “The homes of the wicked are cursed by the Lord.” One translation has “The Lord says wicked people will be ruined with their families.”

“But he blesses the abode of the righteous”: “Bless”, when God is its subject, means to pronounce good or to give favor to. “Bless”, as with “curse”, is taken to be a verbal act. In some languages this line may need to be expressed, for example, “but the Lord shows his kindness to. . ..” “The righteous” refers to good people, those who are contrasted with the wicked or bad people. See 2.20. Their “abode” refers to their circle of friends or family; it is used here in the same sense as “house” in the first line.

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 .