“Let your eyes look directly forward”: Understood literally this may be a command to the learner to avoid shifting his eyes away from the person he addresses or, as Good News Translation says, “Look straight ahead.” It may be taken in a figurative sense, however: “Uprightness of conduct symbolized by straightforwardness of look” (Toy). It may also be taken as leading up to the next verse: “Keep looking straight ahead. . .. Know where you are headed” (Contemporary English Version).

“And your gaze be straight before you”: This line shifts from “eyes” in the first line to a smaller part of the eyes, literally “the eyelids.” The thought may be that if a person tells the truth, he should not have any problem looking straight ahead of him. This sense is well expressed by Bible en français courant: “Let your eyes be fixed well on anyone in front of you; look straight ahead of you with openness.”

In many societies to look straight into the eyes of the person being addressed is considered to be rude. If you decide to follow an understanding of the text which relates to the way people look each other in the face, you must carefully study the problems related to eye contact in communicating in order to avoid giving a wrong impression. A note may be in order to explain the equivalent sense in your language. A rendering that follows the approach of Contemporary English Version above (see also Revised English Bible) will avoid this difficulty. One simple translation of the verse is “Look straight ahead to where you are going. Don’t look around.”

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 .