She glorifies her noble birth by living with God: Glorifies her noble birth means that she “dignifies [or, gives greater honor to] her origin.” Her noble birth refers to the idea, common among Jewish thinkers in the author’s day, that God created Wisdom before creating the world (Pro 8.22). Noble birth may be alternatively translated “honorable [or, distinguished] ancestry [or, birth],” so we may express the first part of the line as “She makes her distinguished ancestry receive even greater honor.” Living with God is more literally “having companionship of/union with God.” The expression “having companionship with” is used elsewhere of marriage (as in verse 9), and Wisdom is called God’s bride in some Jewish writing of the era; but since here Solomon seeks Wisdom as his own bride, the meaning given in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is probably correct. Any man in the author’s day would choose a wife of noble birth if possible. Wisdom, the woman with whom Solomon has fallen in love, is of such noble birth that she is able to live with God! This seems to be the meaning. This line might be expressed as “She dignifies her noble origin [or, birth] since she lives in God’s company” or “Because she lives with God, she makes her distinguished [or, noble] origin receive even greater honor.”

And the Lord of all loves her: Good News Translation does well to join this line to the previous one. We would suggest, however, a different wording since verse 4 will make clearer what is meant by of all: “And God, the master of all creation, loves her.”

An alternative translation model for the whole verse is:

• Because she lives with God, she makes her distinguished [or, honorable] origin receive even greater honor. And God, the master of all creation, loves her.

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.