Proverbs 31:13-29

31:13 She obtains ¹  wool and flax,

and she is pleased to work with her hands. ² 

31:14 She is like ³  the merchant ships; ⁴ 

she brings her food from afar.

31:15 She also gets up ⁵  while it is still night,

and provides food ⁶  for her household and a portion ⁷  to her female servants.

31:16 She considers ⁸  a field and buys it;

from her own income ⁹  she plants a vineyard.

31:17 She begins ¹⁰  her work vigorously,

and she strengthens ¹¹  her arms.

31:18 She knows ¹²  that her merchandise is good,

and her lamp ¹³  does not go out in the night.

31:19 Her hands ¹⁴  take hold ¹⁵  of the distaff,

and her hands grasp the spindle.

31:20 She extends ¹⁶  her hand ¹⁷  to the poor,

and reaches out her hand to the needy.

31:21 She is not ¹⁸  afraid of the snow ¹⁹  for her household,

for all of her household are clothed with scarlet. ²⁰ 

31:22 She makes for herself coverlets; ²¹ 

her clothing is fine linen and purple. ²² 

31:23 Her husband is well-known ²³  in the city gate ²⁴ 

when he sits with the elders ²⁵  of the land.

31:24 She makes linen garments ²⁶  and sells them,

and supplies the merchants ²⁷  with sashes.

31:25 She is clothed ²⁸  with strength ²⁹  and honor, ³⁰ 

and she can laugh ³¹  at the time ³²  to come.

31:26 She opens her mouth ³³  with wisdom,

and loving instruction ³⁴  is on her tongue.

31:27 She watches over ³⁵  the ways of her household,

and does not eat the bread of idleness. ³⁶ 

31:28 Her children rise up ³⁷  and call her blessed,

her husband ³⁸  also praises her:

31:29 “Many ³⁹  daughters ⁴⁰  have done valiantly, ⁴¹ 

but you surpass them all!”

[31:13]  ¹ tn The first word of the fourth line begins with דּ (dalet) the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The verb דָרַשׁ (darash) means “to seek; to inquire; to investigate.” The idea is that she looks for the wool and flax to do her work, but the whole verse assumes she has obtained it. This verb also occurs in the hymn of Ps 111, which says in v. 2 that “the works of the Lord are searched.” One word used in another passage is not that significant; but the cumulative effect of words and ideas suggest that the composition of this poem is influenced by hymnology.

[31:13]  ² tn Heb “and she works in the pleasure of her hands.” The noun חֵפֶץ (khefets) means “delight; pleasure.” BDB suggests it means here “that in which one takes pleasure,” i.e., a business, and translates the line “in the business of her hands” (BDB 343 s.v. 4). But that translation reduces the emphasis on pleasure and could have easily been expressed in other ways. Here it is part of the construct relationship. The “hands” are the metonymy of cause, representing all her skills and activities in making things. It is also a genitive of specification, making “pleasure” the modifier of “her hands/her working.” She does her work with pleasure. Tg. Prov 31:13 has, “she works with her hands in accordance with her pleasure.”

[31:14]  ³ tn The first word of the fifth line begins with ה (he), the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:14]  ⁴ sn The point of the simile is that she goes wherever she needs to go, near and far, to gather in all the food for the needs and the likes of the family. The line captures the vision and the industry of this woman.

[31:15]  ⁵ tn The first word of the sixth line begins with ו (vav), the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:15]  ⁶ sn The word for “food” is טֶרֶף (teref, “prey”; KJV “meat”), another word that does not normally fit the domestic scene. This word also is used in a similar way in Ps 111:5, which says the Lord gives food. Here it is the noble woman who gives food to her family and servants.

[31:15]  ⁷ sn The word חֹק (khoq) probably means “allotted portion of food” as before, but some suggest it means the task that is allotted to the servants, meaning that the wise woman gets up early enough to give out the work assignments (Tg. Prov 31:15, RSV, NRSV, TEV, NLT). That is possible, but seems an unnecessary direction for the line to take. Others, however, simply wish to delete this last colon, leaving two cola and not three, but that is unwarranted.

[31:16]  ⁸ tn The first word of the seventh line begins with ז (zayin), the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the fruit of her hands.” The expression employs two figures. “Hands” is a metonymy of cause, indicating the work she does. “Fruit” is a hypocatastasis, an implied comparison meaning what she produces, the income she earns. She is able to plant a vineyard from her income.

[31:17]  ¹⁰ tn The first word of the eighth line begins with ח (khet), the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:17]  ¹¹ sn The expression “she makes her arm strong” parallels the first half of the verse and indicates that she gets down to her work with vigor and strength. There may be some indication here of “rolling up the sleeves” to ready the arms for the task, but that is not clear.

[31:18]  ¹² tn The first word of the ninth line begins with ט (tet), the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:18]  ¹³ sn The line may be taken literally to mean that she is industrious throughout the night (“burning the midnight oil”) when she must in order to follow through a business deal (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 668); cf. TEV. But the line could also be taken figuratively, comparing “her light” to the prosperity of her household – her whole life – which continues night and day.

[31:19]  ¹⁴ tn The first word of the tenth line begins with י (yod) the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:19]  ¹⁵ tn The verb שִׁלַּח (shilakh), the Piel perfect of the verb “to send,” means in this stem “to thrust out; to stretch out.” It is a stronger word than is perhaps necessary. It is a word that is also used in military settings to describe the firmness and forthrightness of the activity (Judg 5:26).

[31:20]  ¹⁶ sn The parallel expressions here underscore her care for the needy. The first part uses “she spreads her palm” and the second “she thrusts out her hand,” repeating some of the vocabulary introduced in the last verse.

[31:20]  ¹⁷ tn The first word of the eleventh line begins with כּ (kaf), the eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:21]  ¹⁸ tn The first word of the twelfth line begins with ל (lamed), the twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:21]  ¹⁹ sn “Snow” is a metonymy of adjunct; it refers to the cold weather when snow comes. The verse is saying that this time is not a concern for the wise woman because the family is well prepared.

[31:21]  ²⁰ tn For the MT’s “scarlet” the LXX and the Latin have “two” or “double” – the difference being essentially the vocalization of a plural as opposed to a dual. The word is taken in the versions with the word that follows (“covers”) to means “double garments.” The question to be asked is whether scarlet would keep one warm in winter or double garments. The latter is the easier reading and therefore suspect.

[31:22]  ²¹ tn The first word of the thirteenth line begins with מ (mem), the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The word rendered “coverlets” appears in 7:16, where it has the idea of “covered.” K&D 17:335 suggests “pillows” or “mattresses” here. The Greek version has “lined overcoats” or “garments,” but brings over the last word of the previous verse to form this line and parallel the second half, which has clothing in view.

[31:22]  ²² sn The “fine linen” refers to expensive clothing (e.g., Gen 41:42), as does the “purple” (e.g., Exod 26:7; 27:9, 18). Garments dyed with purple indicated wealth and high rank (e.g., Song 3:5). The rich man in Luke 16:19 was clothed in fine linen and purple as well. The difference is that the wise woman is charitable, but he is not.

[31:23]  ²³ tn The first word of the fourteenth line begins with נ (nun), the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The form is the Niphal participle of יָדַע (yada’); it means that her husband is “known.” The point is that he is a prominent person, respected in the community.

[31:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “gate”; the term “city” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[31:23]  ²⁵ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition and a pronominal suffix that serves as the subject (subjective genitive) to form a temporal clause. The fact that he “sits with the elders” means he is one of the elders; he sits as a judge among the people.

[31:24]  ²⁶ tn The first word of the fifteenth line begins with ס (samek), the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to the Canaanites.” These are the Phoenician traders that survived the wars and continued to do business down to the exile.

[31:25]  ²⁸ sn The idea of clothing and being clothed is a favorite figure in Hebrew. It makes a comparison between wearing clothes and having strength and honor. Just as clothes immediately indicate something of the nature and circumstances of the person, so do these virtues.

[31:25]  ²⁹ tn The first word of the sixteenth line begins with ע (ayin), the sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:25]  ³⁰ sn This word appears in Ps 111:3 which says that the Lord’s work is honorable, and here the woman is clothed with strength and honor.

[31:25]  ³¹ sn Here “laugh” is either a metonymy of adjunct or effect. The point is that she is confident for the future because of all her industry and planning.

[31:25]  ³² tn Heb “day.” This word is a metonymy of subject meaning any events that take place on the day or in the time to come.

[31:26]  ³³ tn The first word of the seventeenth line begins with פּ (pe), the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:26]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew phrase תּוֹרַת־חֶסֶד (torat-khesed) is open to different interpretations. (1) The word “law” could here refer to “teaching” as it does frequently in the book of Proverbs, and the word “love,” which means “loyal, covenant love,” could have the emphasis on faithfulness, yielding the idea of “faithful teaching” to parallel “wisdom” (cf. NIV). (2) The word “love” should probably have more of the emphasis on its basic meaning of “loyal love, lovingkindness.” It also would be an attributive genitive, but its force would be that of “loving instruction” or “teaching with kindness.”

[31:27]  ³⁵ tn The first word of the eighteenth line begins with צ (tsade), the eighteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:27]  ³⁶ sn The expression bread of idleness refers to food that is gained through idleness, perhaps given or provided for her. In the description of the passage one could conclude that this woman did not have to do everything she did; and this line affirms that even though she is well off, she will eat the bread of her industrious activity.

[31:28]  ³⁷ tn The first word of the nineteenth line begins with ק (qof), the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:28]  ³⁸ tn The text uses an independent nominative absolute to draw attention to her husband: “her husband, and he praises her.” Prominent as he is, her husband speaks in glowing terms of his noble wife.

[31:29]  ³⁹ tn The first word of the twentieth line begins with ר (resh), the twentieth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:29]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “women” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[31:29]  ⁴¹ tn The word is the same as in v. 10, “noble, valiant.”