This verse explains the author’s purpose in making each of the comparisons in this last part of the book.

For through the very things by which their enemies were punished, they themselves received benefit in their need: Good News Translation does not express this well at all; the point is not that the plagues that afflicted Egypt saved the Israelites, but that there is some point of comparison between some particular plague and some particular saving act of God during the wilderness wandering. Here is a suggestion for translating the verse:

• When your people were in trouble, they received help from the very things that you had used to punish their enemies.

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.