Proverbs 31

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Proverbs 31 closes the book with two voices. First a queen mother instructs her son, King Lemuel, on the discipline a ruler needs: not to waste himself on women or wine, and to speak up for those who have no voice. Then comes the alphabet poem of the woman of noble character, whose husband trusts her, whose hands are never idle, who buys fields and sells linen and opens her arms to the poor, and whose secret is named in the second-to-last verse: she fears the LORD.

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Proverbs 31 is remembered for its last poem, but it begins with a mother teaching a king. Her advice is blunt: do not spend your strength on women, do not drink yourself out of justice, and use the mouth a king has to speak for people who have none. Then the book turns to its finale, an alphabet poem about a woman of noble character. She is easy to admire and easy to misread. She rises before dawn, trades, plants a vineyard, clothes her household against the snow, sells linen to merchants, teaches with wisdom, and is praised by her children and her husband. Some readers hear a standard no one could meet. The poem itself points elsewhere. It opens with "who can find?", the same question the book asked about wisdom, and it ends by naming what lies beneath everything else: "a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." Proverbs began with the fear of the LORD as the beginning of knowledge, and it ends with the fear of the LORD embodied in a working life. Charm deceives, beauty fades, and the works of a wise person speak for themselves at the gates. That is the book's last word, and it is a picture rather than a maxim.

Key passages

Proverbs 31:1-9 Proverbs 31:10-12 Proverbs 31:20-26 Proverbs 31:30-31 Proverbs 1:7

Historical and literary context

King Lemuel is otherwise unknown, and the chapter is one of the few places in Proverbs where a teacher is explicitly a woman, the king's mother. The closing poem is an acrostic, twenty-two verses following the Hebrew alphabet, which marks it as a carefully composed conclusion rather than a random collection. In Jewish practice it is traditionally sung or recited in the home on Friday evening at the start of the Sabbath. Its portrait of a household economy, with wool and flax, merchant ships, vineyards, and linen for sale, reflects the working life of ancient Israel.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 9 are the mother's oracle to Lemuel, moving from warnings about appetite to a positive charge: open your mouth for the voiceless, judge righteously, defend the poor. Verses 10 to 31 are the acrostic poem. It opens with a question, "who can find?", moves through the woman's trustworthiness, her work, her trade, her generosity, her foresight, her wisdom in speech, and her household's praise, and ends with the book's conclusion: charm deceives and beauty fades, but the fear of the LORD is the thing to be praised, and her works praise her at the gates.

Why this chapter matters

Proverbs opened with "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge," and it closes with a woman who fears the LORD, which means the whole book is framed by that phrase, and its final picture of wisdom is not a sage but a working woman. The poem has been read as a portrait of an ideal wife, as a description of Lady Wisdom herself embodied in daily life, and as a model of strength, since "strength and honor are her clothing" and she "can laugh at the days to come." The mother's charge to the king, to speak for the dispossessed, is one of the Old Testament's clearest statements of what power is for.

Interpretive tension to watch

Is the woman of verses 10 to 31 a standard for every wife, a poetic ideal that no one person is meant to match, or wisdom personified as the book has personified her from chapter 1 onward? The answer shapes whether the chapter is read as a burden or as a celebration. The poem's own frame, "who can find?" at the start and the fear of the LORD at the end, points toward wisdom lived out rather than a checklist.

Questions for this chapter

  • The queen mother tells her son to open his mouth for those with no voice. Who has no voice where you have some?
  • Why might the book of Proverbs end its search for wisdom with a portrait of ordinary work, trade, and household care rather than with a philosopher?
  • Verse 30 sets charm and beauty against the fear of the LORD. What does that contrast say about how the whole book has taught the reader to see?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

Add to Notes
1 De woorden van den koning Lemuel; de last, maarmede zijn moeder hem onderwees. 2 Wat, o mijn zoon, en wat, o zoon mijns buiks? ja, wat, o zoon mijner geloften? 3 Geeft aan de vrouwen uw vermogen niet, noch uw wegen, om koningen te verdelgen. 4 Het komt den koningen niet toe, o Lemuel! het komt den koningen niet toe wijn te drinken, en den prinsen, sterken drank te begeren; 5 Opdat hij niet drinke, en het gezette vergete, en de rechtzaak van alle verdrukten verandere. 6 Geeft sterken drank dengene, die verloren gaat, en wijn dengenen, die bitterlijk bedroefd van ziel zijn; 7 Dat hij drinke, en zijn armoede vergete, en zijner moeite niet meer gedenke. 8 Open uw mond voor den stomme, voor de rechtzaak van allen, die omkomen zouden. 9 Open uw mond; oordeel gerechtelijk, en doe den verdrukte en nooddruftige recht. 10 Aleph. Wie zal een deugdelijke huisvrouw vinden? Want haar waardij is verre boven de robijnen. 11 Beth. Het hart haars heren vertrouwt op haar, zodat hem geen goed zal ontbreken. 12 Gimel. Zij doet hem goed en geen kwaad, al de dagen haars levens. 13 Daleth. Zij zoekt wol en vlas, en werkt met lust harer handen. 14 He. Zij is als de schepen eens koopmans; zij doet haar brood van verre komen. 15 Vau. En zij staat op, als het nog nacht is, en geeft haar huis spijze, en haar dienstmaagden het bescheiden deel. 16 Zain. Zij denkt om een akker, en krijgt hem; van de vrucht harer handen plant zij een wijngaard. 17 Cheth. Zij gordt haar lenden met kracht, en zij versterkt haar armen. 18 Teth. Zij smaakt, dat haar koophandel goed is; haar lamp gaat des nachts niet uit. 19 Jod. Zij steekt haar handen uit naar de spil, en haar handpalmen vatten den spinrok. 20 Caph. Zij breidt haar handpalm uit tot den ellendige; en zij steekt haar handen uit tot den nooddruftige. 21 Lamed. Zij vreest voor haar huis niet vanwege de sneeuw; want haar ganse huis is met dubbele klederen gekleed. 22 Mem. Zij maakt voor zich tapijtsieraad; haar kleding is fijn linnen en purper. 23 Nun. Haar man is bekend in de poorten, als hij zit met de oudsten des lands. 24 Samech. Zij maakt fijn lijnwaad en verkoopt het; en zij levert den koopman gordelen. 25 Ain. Sterkte en heerlijkheid zijn haar kleding; en zij lacht over den nakomenden dag. 26 Pe. Zij doet haar mond open met wijsheid; en op haar tong is leer der goeddadigheid. 27 Tsade. Zij beschouwt de gangen van haar huis; en het brood der luiheid eet zij niet. 28 Koph. Haar kinderen staan op, en roemen haar welgelukzalig; ook haar man, en hij prijst haar, zeggende: 29 Resch. Vele dochteren hebben deugdelijke gehandeld; maar gij gaat die allen te boven. 30 Schin. De bevalligheid is bedrog, en de schoonheid ijdelheid; maar een vrouw, die den HEERE vreest, die zal geprezen worden. 31 Thau. Geef haar van de vrucht harer handen, en laat haar werken haar prijzen in de poorten.

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