The slave was punished with the same penalty as the master: To get across that all levels of society suffered loss, it seems more effective, in English at any rate, to begin with the master, rather than the slave. This is why Good News Translation reverses the two: “Masters suffered the same punishment as their slaves.” So does New English Bible with “Master and slave were punished together with the same penalty”; but we may also say “Every family suffered the same punishment, whether they were slaves or their owners.”

And the common man suffered the same loss as the king: Good News Translation is good here. Again it reverses the two nouns. However, in some languages translators may wish to keep the Revised Standard Version order and say “ordinary people and the ruler [or, king/high chief].”

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.