Because wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin: Translators should begin this verse with a logical connector, as in Revised Standard Version (Because). This is the first mention of wisdom in the book, so it should appear in translation in some way that calls attention to it. While many lines in which the word occurs can be reworded so that the noun wisdom becomes the adjective “wise,” this should be avoided here if possible. Wisdom is thought of here as an outside force that enters a person to make that person wise.

Solomon tells us that a deceitful, sinful person can never be wise; deceit and sin cannot coexist with wisdom. The two lines are essentially saying the same thing. Soul and body together simply represent the person, who is described as deceitful and enslaved to sin. The two lines can be combined as done in the Contemporary English Version (Contemporary English Version): “because Wisdom won’t live with deceitful slaves of sin.” Two other possible ways of expressing this verse are “This is because Wisdom will never be found in a deceitful, sinful person” and “This is because deceitful, sinful people will never have wisdom [or, think and act as God would have them do].”

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.