So it is better to be a king who shows courage … than to be these false gods …: Would you rather be a courageous king or a block of wood? The wording of Revised Standard Version is misleading, since it suggests that it is better for a person to be a king than a false god, but this is not the point. No one was in any danger of becoming a false god. The writer is talking about usefulness as opposed to uselessness: kings show courage, pots hold things, doors protect things, pillars support palaces—but false gods are good for nothing. Good News Translation has a clever and effective restructuring that makes the point without laying out a distracting comparison. Careful comparison will show that Good News Translation has covered every point.

For household utensil, Good News Translation has “piece of pottery” and Contemporary English Version “household pot.”

False gods may be rendered “idols [or, images] of false gods.”

For protects its contents, Good News Translation has “protects the things in the house” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

In some languages wooden pillar may be translated “wooden post” or “pole.”

Palace may be rendered “house of the king.”

In the series, king, household utensil, door, and pillar, which term does not belong? Obviously, king. A change has been proposed for the text because of this. In Hebrew either the word for “stick” or “crutch” could have been mistaken for the word “king.” So the beginning of this verse could be translated “Better a stick/crutch that has proved its strength….” This is appealing, but the Greek word chosen for “strength/courage” applies better to a person than an object. It refers to “manly courage.” If there was an error in transmission, it must have involved this word as well. The Greek is awkward, to be sure, but what it says is clear enough. Translators should stay with the term king.

Contemporary English Version skillfully restructures the verse as follows:

• Anything is better than an idol, including a brave king, a household pot, a door that protects things in a house, or a wooden column in a palace. All these are more useful than false gods.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.