Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship: For the ambition of the craftsman, New Jerusalem Bible has “the artist’s enthusiasm.” The word king is not present in Greek. Most take did not know to apply to the king, but along with Vílchez, we take it to apply to worship. Verse 20 seems to indicate they did know the king. We believe Good News Translation (so also Vílchez) is correct in interpreting intensify to mean a spread of the practice of worshiping this ruler. So we suggest the following for the verse:

• The artists who made the images [or, statues] did their job so well that people who had not worshiped the king earlier now began to worship him.

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.