Being perfected in a short time, he fulfilled long years: Good News Translation again specifies Enoch as the subject here; again (as in verse 10), we think it is wrong. Good News Translation translates perfected as “perfection,” because it is further misled by Enoch. The word perfected (a verb) means here “having reached fulfilment.” The author believes that a righteous person can live a whole, fulfilled life in a short span of years, and therefore “be at rest” (verse 7) when he dies. We may approach the verse like this (following on our suggestion for verses 10-11 above):

• These good people live a more fulfilled life in their few years than others who live to old age.

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.