And whoever was there fell down: In verse 10 “people died”; here “people fell down.” Fell down suggests tripping over something, but “collapse” (Good News Translation) suggests falling from fright. Good News Translation “suddenly” is an addition that is consistent with the context, although not in the Greek.

And thus was kept shut up in a prison not made of iron: The prison not made of iron was made of fear. Good News Translation has a good translation for this line. If the metaphor “the chains of their own fear” seems too difficult, translators could say “and lay there as prisoners to their own fear, as if in chains [or, prison]” or “and as they lay there, their own fear took complete control of them as if they were in….”

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.