But ungodly men by their words and deeds summoned death: Compare verse 12a, where the rulers of the world are urged not to “invite death” by sinning. Here we are told that this is exactly what ungodly people do. By what they do and say, they call out to death and say, “Here I am!” Good News Translation abandons the figure and says that the ungodly “have brought death on themselves,” which is an idiomatic expression meaning “have caused their own deaths.” So another possible model is “The words and deeds of evil people have caused their own deaths [or, caused them to die].” The adversative But should be omitted since this verse begins a new section (see Good News Translation).
Ungodly is a word often used in the book, and with one exception (14.16), it is used with reference to people. It describes a person as having no concern for God and religion, and as used by a Jewish writer such as our author, it may describe a person who has no concern for the worship of the one true God, the God of Israel. The behavior of such people may be described as “wicked” or “evil,” but this is not the focus the author intends here. The emphasis is on the person’s attitude, not the person’s activity. “Godless” and “unreligious” are possibilities. Other ways of saying this are “people who do not honor [or, worship] God” and “people who do not obey God’s laws.”
The Revised Standard Version footnote at the end of the first line calls attention to the fact that the word death is not used in Greek. The Greek only has a pronoun, but that pronoun clearly refers back to “death” in verse 12. The noun should be used here for clarity.
Considering him a friend, they pined away: This means that they have a self-destructive desire for death, a “death wish.” To “pine away” is to waste away or wither away from grief or, here, from yearning. It is an overstatement, of course. Since a person is unlikely to pine away for a friend, Good News Translation renders “lover,” but this does not seem satisfactory. Perhaps a closer connection with the first line will be helpful: “By what they do and say, ungodly [or, evil] people call out to death as if they were greeting a friend they yearn to be with.”
And they made a covenant with him: A covenant is an agreement. Good News Translation has “They have gone into partnership with death.” Contemporary English Version is similar: “they are partners with death.” Translators might also render “They have come to terms with death.” Compare Isa 28.15.
Because they are fit to belong to his party: The word translated party means “possession,” and the line means that the ungodly belong to death—fittingly so. Just as in Deut 32.9 Israel is God’s possession, here the ungodly are death’s possession. Fit to belong to his party is a good translation, but New Jerusalem Bible “belong to him” is better still. Another possible model is “They belong to death, and deserve it.”
The phrase belong to his party, which appears here in the first verse of the section, will appear again in 2.24, closing the section. Translators will want to be aware of this, but they should not sacrifice clarity or faithfulness in the context in order to translate these two phrases the same way.
The verbs in this verse may be translated as past or present. Good News Translation mixes the two without any bad effect, but the Handbook suggests that the present tense be used.
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.