Translation
There was found in it a poor, wise man and by his wisdom he helped the city escape,
Go to footnote numberyet no one remembered that poor man.
Paraphrase
In that small city there was a poor but wise man who used his wisdom to help the city slip from the grasp of the powerful king. However, later on, no one thought to honor the poor man for what he had done.
Footnotes
1: “escape”
This Hebrew word means to “slip away.” It comes from a root word meaning “to be hairless, or to lack hair, to be smooth.” The connection is that if you are trying to catch an animal you can grab some of the hair, fur or wool, but it if is hairless and smooth, it is harder to catch. In this sense being “smooth” meant being “slippery, able to slip away.”