insignificant

In Gbaya, the notion of something insignificant (animals, creatures, counterfeit gods) is emphasized in the referenced verses with kókóɗó, an ideophone that describes something small, insignificant, unimportant.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

Translation commentary on Wisdom 16:1

Therefore those men were deservedly punished through such creatures: Compare 11.15-16; 12.27. At the beginning of a new section, it would be helpful to use “the enemies of your people” (15.14) instead of those men, and to express such creatures in such a way so that knowledge of the previous section is not required; for example, “And so it was right that these enemies of your people were punished by disgusting creatures” or “And so it was appropriate [or, right/good] that you, O God, used disgusting creatures to punish these enemies of your people.”

And were tormented by a multitude of animals: The word for animals is the same as used in 11.15; see the note there. Good News Translation may be followed for this line, but it is also possible to combine the two lines of this verse; for example, “And so it was appropriate [or, right/good] that these enemies of your people were punished by swarms of disgusting creatures” or “… that you, O God, used swarms of disgusting creatures to punish these enemies of your people.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.