Wisdom rescued a righteous man when the ungodly were perishing: The reference is to the escape of Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Gen 19.24-25. For ungodly see 1.16. Ungodly people in some languages is rendered “people who didn’t worship God” or simply “wicked people.”

He escaped the fire that descended on the Five Cities: The Five Cities (literally “Pentapolis” in Greek) are Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (Gen 14.2). Zoar was spared the destruction that fell on the others (Gen 19.21-22).

Using Good News Translation as a guide, this verse can be translated as follows:

• Wisdom rescued a righteous [or, good] man and let him escape while ungodly [or, wicked] people were dying in the flames that destroyed the Five Cities.

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.