These parents who murder helpless lives is literally “parents, murderers of helpless souls”; the word “murderers” refers specifically to those who murder members of their own family. This line and the previous one are combined into one sentence in Good News Translation. It offers an adequate model, but it would be better to say “They practiced a bloody religion in which parents murdered their own defenseless children.”

Thou didst will to destroy by the hands of our fathers: The Greek sentence begun in verse 3 does not reach the verb until this point. In most languages it will be better to have a separate sentence here (see Good News Translation). The model of Contemporary English Version is very clear: “That’s why you decided to let our ancestors destroy them.”

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.