For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life: At the beginning of this new section, the connector For may be omitted. The word fornication has a double meaning for the author here. The word literally refers to “Sexual immorality” (Good News Translation), but was used in the Old Testament to refer to idolatry, and religious infidelity (see, for example, 2Kgs 9.22; Jer 2.20; Hos 4.12; 5.4; 6.10). The effect was to describe religious unfaithfulness as moral degradation. Although using this imagery, the author is not thinking only of sexual immorality here; he expands on his meaning in verses 23-26. There he certainly emphasizes sexual sins, but there are other types of sin in mind as well. Consequently we suggest that translators not follow Good News Translation in its wording, but say something like:
• When people first thought about making idols they began to be unfaithful to God, and the idols they made have corrupted human life ever since.
There are two different approaches to this verse. In one (Vílchez), the second line describes a worsening of the situation set forth in the first. The idea would be that being unfaithful to the true God began the very minute that someone had the idea of making an image of a god. A model following this approach is:
• People started being unfaithful to God when they got the idea of making idols, and when they made them, the idols began corrupting [or, ruining] human life.
The more usual approach is to consider the two lines as having roughly the same meaning, as in this next model:
• People started being unfaithful to God when they first started making idols, and idols have been corrupting [or, ruining] human life ever since.
Translators may choose either interpretation; the Handbook prefers the second one.
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.