The two lines of this verse are parallel and make a contrast between truth and falsehood.

“The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge”: “The eyes of the Lord keep watch over” is figurative language that may not be natural in some languages, especially since the object is “knowledge”, which is not an object that can be seen. English versions that do not reproduce the figure literally say, for example, “The Lord keeps watch” (Revised English Bible), “The Lord watches over” (Contemporary English Version), and “The Lord sees to it that . . . is kept safe” (Good News Translation). In Proverbs the term “knowledge” usually has the sense of “understanding” or “discernment,” but in contrast with “the words of the faithless” in the next line, it may have the idea of “true wisdom” or more simply “truth” (Good News Translation). Contemporary English Version is a good model for translating this line without figurative language: “The Lord watches over everyone who shows good sense.”

“But he overthrows the words of the faithless”: The Hebrew term rendered “overthrows” is rare in the Old Testament. For comments on its general meaning of “ruin [a person]” see 13.6; with “words” as its object its sense is something like “confounds” (New Jerusalem Bible), “contradicts” (Scott), or “disproves” (see Good News Translation). However, the Hebrew term that is translated “words” can also have such meanings as “affairs,” “business,” “[legal] case,” and “acts”; and one of these meanings could be intended in this context. Contemporary English Version, for instance, renders this line as “he frustrates the plans of deceitful liars,” and Revised English Bible (which puts the whole saying into a legal context) says “. . . and upsets the perjurer’s case.” “The faithless” is the same Hebrew term used in 2.22, where Revised Standard Version renders it “the treacherous.” See the comments there; in this context the element of meaning in focus is “lying” or “deceiving.”

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 .