And hailstones full of wrath will be hurled as from a catapult: Hailstones are balls or pieces of ice that fall from storm clouds; they can be as small as a pea or as large as an orange, and are capable of doing great damage. They are not, of course, literally full of wrath, but they can “beat down … with terrible force,” as Good News Translation puts it. Contemporary English Version has “Fearsome hailstones will strike the Lord’s enemies.” A catapult was a machine used in ancient warfare as a kind of artillery piece. It could throw large rocks, dead animals, infected human bodies, or flaming objects over city walls. Good News Translation conveys something of the force of the image without having to use the name of an unfamiliar object. But it is possible to keep the imagery with something like “Fearsome hailstones will beat down on the Lord’s enemies as if hurled from a war machine.”

The water of the sea will rage against them, and rivers will relentlessly overwhelm them: These two lines are parallel. Good News Translation combines will rage against them and will relentlessly overwhelm them into “will come rushing over them in a devastating flood,” but it uses both water of the sea (“oceans”) and rivers as subjects. So does Contemporary English Version with “while ocean waves and rivers roll over them like a flood.”

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.