Toy believes this saying refers to a son who gets hold of his father’s property and then keeps his parents in poverty.

“He who robs his father or his mother”: “Robs” renders a word also used in 22.22 that has the sense of violently taking or snatching away. In languages that require indicating the thing that is robbed, we may say, for example, “A person who robs his parents of their property.” Contemporary English Version has “If you cheat your parents.”

“And says, “That is no transgression””: “That” refers to the robbery or snatching away in line 1. It must often be replaced by “robbing them” or “taking away their property.” “Transgression”, as in verse 13, is a wrong, sin, or bad deed. We may also translate, for example, “and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong'” or “. . . ‘What I have done is not a sin.'” In some languages this may be better expressed in indirect speech; for example, “and says that it is not wrong.”

“Is the companion of a man who destroys”: “The companion” renders a word used, for example, in Psa 119.63, where Good News Translation translates “friend.” In a context like this, the word means to share a similar character. “A man who destroys” is the very worst kind of criminal. Others express the meaning with reference to violence; for example, “a thug” (New Revised Standard Version) or “committing murder” (New Living Translation). :Bible en français courant translates this saying “Whoever thinks that there is no wrong in robbing his father and mother is no better than a highway robber.”

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 .