“When wickedness comes, contempt comes also”: “Wickedness” translates a Hebrew masculine singular adjective meaning “the wicked person.” Most interpreters change the vowel points to get the noun “wickedness”, as in Revised Standard Version, or “sin,” as in Good News Translation. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project rates the Hebrew text as “A” and translates “the wicked [man].” This is followed by Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible and New Jewish Publication Society Version. “Contempt” refers to scorn or disdain. The sense of “when A comes, B comes also” is that of cause and effect, that is, one thing automatically follows the other. First there is wickedness or a wicked person, and then there is scorn or “contempt”. One translation says “Doing evil brings contempt.”
“And with dishonor comes disgrace”: This line is literally “and with dishonor disgrace.” The two terms “dishonor” and “disgrace” are quite similar in meaning. In this context “dishonor” refers to the “loss of honour” (Revised English Bible) that a person suffers as a result of some happening or action. “Disgrace” is literally “reproach” (Revised English Bible) and expresses the disapproving thoughts and words of others towards the person. A typical rendering of the line is “and with shame comes disgrace” (New International Version).
This saying is somewhat difficult due to ambiguity: Is the “contempt” that of the wicked person toward others, or do others show contempt for the wicked person? Toy believes the second line favors the idea that the contempt is directed toward the wicked person. Good News Translation translates the first line as “Sin and shame go together.” Then it renders the second line in the second person with “Lose your honor,” and the consequence is “you will get scorn in its place.” Contemporary English Version “Wrongdoing leads to shame and disgrace” keeps the ambiguity, since it does not say who is shamed or disgraced, but this approach is not possible in some languages. Bible en français courant says “Evil attracts scorn, and a dishonorable act [attracts] shame.” In that translation it is the evil and dishonorable actors who are scorned and shamed. A translation of this saying that avoids the ambiguity is, for example, “Be evil and people will scorn you; be dishonorable and they will shame you.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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