Before proceeding, translators should pause here and consider how they will organize the material in verses 9-13. Good News Translation ends a paragraph with verse 9, placing verses 10-13 in a separate paragraph. This shifts the focus slightly, but many translators may find the approach of Good News Translation easier to handle. The Greek has this basic outline:

verse 9:
All those things have vanished,
like a shadow,
like a rumor,

verse 10:
like a ship,

verse 11:
like a bird,

verse 12:
like an arrow.

verse 13:
We too are like these things.

Good News Translation arranges the material like this:

verse 9:
All those things have vanished like a shadow or a rumor. (End of paragraph)

verse 10:
A ship does as follows …

verse 11:
A bird does as follows …

verse 12:
An arrow does as follows …

verse 13:
It is the same with us.

Verses 10-12 describe the ship, the bird, and the arrow at some length. That is why it is hard to sustain the comparison to ill-gotten wealth that the Greek text is making. Good News Translation makes that comparison in verse 9: all our wealth is gone like a shadow or a rumor. Then, in a new paragraph it is able to describe the ship, the bird, and the arrow at length, making the final point in verse 13. We believe most translators will find this approach easier, and we will follow it here.

All those things have vanished like a shadow: Those things refers to the ill-gotten wealth that the ungodly obtained during life by lawless disregard for others. Contemporary English Version has “Everything that we treasured has vanished like a shadow” (Contemporary English Version). This could perhaps be improved by adding a clarifying phrase: “… has vanished like the shadow of a passing cloud.”

And like a rumor that passes by is literally “like a message running by.” While the interpretation given this by Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version is possible, we think it more likely refers to a messenger running by. All the other comparisons involve something that can be seen. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates “like a message carried on the run.” New English Bible puts the messenger on a horse: “like a messenger galloping by.” There is nothing wrong with that, but we recommend something such as “like a messenger hurrying past.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• All those things we treasure are gone now; they have disappeared like the shadow of a passing cloud, like a messenger hurrying past.

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.