They were stricken also with loss of sight—just as were those at the door of the righteous man: The reference is to Gen 19.10-11. Lot is the righteous man. Again there is the problem of identifying the characters to the reader, although the author does not do so. Rather than name the “men of Sodom” and “Lot” as Good News Translation does, we would prefer to translate without this help, following the author’s wishes. The section heading will be of no help in identifying Lot, so we suggest this may be done with a footnote. The translation may run more smoothly if the lines are reversed in this way: “Like the men at the door of that righteous [or, good] man long ago, these people too were struck with blindness [or, became blind]” or “… you also made these people become blind.”

When, surrounded by yawning darkness, each tried to find the way through his own door: Compare 17.2; Gen 19.11. Yawning darkness is a figure for deepest darkness; Winston translates “immense darkness.” Another approach for these lines is “They were in total darkness, each person groping around to find the door to his own home.”

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.