In this verse the speaker expresses a very low sense of his own worth as a person, an almost complete lack of self-esteem. If the second line of verse 1 has been translated as in Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, and others, this follows on as a consequence or a further expression of the feelings described there.

Some commentators believe that there is a note of irony or sarcasm in this verse and the next: the speaker “was confronted by those who professed to know all about God and His dealings” (A. F. Walls) and in response he describes himself as totally ignorant.

“Surely I am too stupid to be a man”: “A man” refers here to any person, a human being, not a male person. The Hebrew term translated “stupid” is quite rare, although it occurs in this sense in 12.1. It is derived from a root that means “to be brutish,” which can have the sense of “inhuman” as well as the simple meaning “stupid.” The whole expression is a comparative, “[more] stupid I than a man,” which can be taken a number of ways. New Jerusalem Bible, for instance, renders the line “I am myself the stupidest of people,” and New Revised Standard Version has “Surely I am too stupid to be human.” On the other hand, Scott translates “I am more brute than man,” and Revised English Bible “I am a dumb beast, scarcely a man”; Good News Translation also follows this approach: “I am more like an animal than a human being.” Translators may choose to follow either of the above approaches.

“I have not the understanding of a man”: New Revised Standard Version changes this rendering to “I do not have human understanding.” This line is very similar in meaning to the previous line; “I have not the understanding” is just a different way of saying “I am too stupid”. The term “understanding” may also be rendered in this context as “intelligence” (New Jerusalem Bible), “powers of understanding” (Revised English Bible), or “the sense we humans should have” (Good News Translation). Since the two lines are so similar in meaning, Contemporary English Version combines them into one: “I am far too stupid to be considered human.”

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 .