“If you faint in the day of adversity”: “If you faint” is a reflexive form of the verb that basically means “relax,” “drop,” “sink,” “let go,” or “be slack.” In this context the reflexive form means something like “show yourself weak”; so Revised English Bible has “If you have shown yourself weak. . .” and Scott “If you show weakness. . ..” Good News Translation “If you are weak. . .” and New Jerusalem Bible “If you lose heart. . .” express the same idea. The idiomatic expression “the day of adversity” means a time of distress or trouble (see 17.17); in many languages, however, the literal rendering of the idiom will not be the most natural way of translating it. New International Version “times of trouble” and New Jerusalem Bible “when things go wrong” are both good models for translators. The term “crisis” is commonly used in English to express this sense; Scott and Good News Translation both say “in a crisis” and Revised English Bible “at a time of crisis.” One translation renders this line as “If your trouble puts you down.”

“Your strength is small”: For “strength” see verse 5. The Hebrew word translated “small” comes from the same root and sounds almost the same as the word “adversity” in the previous line. As an adjective its sense is “narrow” or “restricted”; a number of other versions follow Revised Standard Version with “small,” but Revised English Bible renders the line “how limited is your strength” and New Jerusalem Bible “your strength is not worth much.” Good News Translation expresses the thought with “you are weak indeed.”

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 .