Because wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb: Compare Isa 35.6. Although the dumb here is plural (meaning “those who are unable to talk”), the author is perhaps referring to Moses; see Exo 4.10; 6.12, 30. But see the next line.

And made the tongues of babes speak clearly: Compare Psa 8.2. Once again the writer is relying on an ancient Jewish tradition about babies at their mothers’ breasts speaking to praise God at the time of the crossing of the Red Sea. (Texts are quoted by Winston and Vílchez.) This suggests that the babes of this line are the same as the dumb in the previous line. What we have here is simply a case of synonymous parallelism, that is, two lines that say the same thing in different terms. Some take clearly here to mean “eloquently.”

Bearing these points in mind, translators could then translate the verse as follows:

• Wisdom even caused babies who were too young to talk to speak clearly.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.