Proverbs 31

קרא את הפרק הזה בכוונה

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.

פתח פירוש פרק

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.

קטעי מפתח

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.

שאלות לפרק הזה

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.

הוספה להערות

1 Parole del re Lemuel. Sentenze con le quali sua madre lo ammaestrò. 2 Che ti dirò, figlio mio? che ti dirò, figlio delle mie viscere? che ti dirò, o figlio dei miei voti? 3 Non dare il tuo vigore alle donne, né i tuoi costumi a quelle che perdono i re. 4 Non s’addice ai re, o Lemuel, non s’addice ai re bere del vino, né ai principi, bramar la cervogia: 5 che a volte, avendo bevuto, non dimentichino la legge, e non disconoscano i diritti d’ogni povero afflitto. 6 Date della cervogia a chi sta per perire, e del vino a chi ha l’anima amareggiata; 7 affinché bevano, dimentichino la loro miseria, e non si ricordin più dei loro travagli. 8 Apri la tua bocca in favore del mutolo, per sostener la causa di tutti i derelitti; 9 apri la tua bocca, giudica con giustizia, fa’ ragione al misero ed al bisognoso. 10 Elogio della donna forte e virtuosa. Una donna forte e virtuosa chi la troverà? il suo pregio sorpassa di molto quello delle perle. 11 Il cuore del suo marito confida in lei, ed egli non mancherà mai di provviste. 12 Ella gli fa del bene, e non del male, tutti i giorni della sua vita. 13 Ella si procura della lana e del lino, e lavora con diletto con le proprie mani. 14 Ella è simile alle navi dei mercanti: fa venire il suo cibo da lontano. 15 Ella si alza quando ancora è notte, distribuisce il cibo alla famiglia e il compito alle sue donne di servizio. 16 Ella posa gli occhi sopra un campo, e l’acquista; col guadagno delle sue mani pianta una vigna. 17 Ella si ricinge di forza i fianchi, e fa robuste le sue braccia. 18 Ella s’accorge che il suo lavoro rende bene; la sua lucerna non si spegne la notte. 19 Ella mette la mano alla ròcca, e le sue dita maneggiano il fuso. 20 Ella stende le palme al misero, e porge le mani al bisognoso. 21 Ella non teme la neve per la sua famiglia, perché tutta la sua famiglia è vestita di lana scarlatta. 22 Ella si fa dei tappeti, ha delle vesti di lino finissimo e di porpora. 23 Il suo marito è rispettato alle porte, quando si siede fra gli Anziani del paese. 24 Ella fa delle tuniche e le vende, e delle cinture che dà al mercante. 25 Forza e dignità sono il suo manto, ed ella si ride dell’avvenire. 26 Ella apre la bocca con sapienza, ed ha sulla lingua insegnamenti di bontà. 27 Ella sorveglia l’andamento della sua casa, e non mangia il pane di pigrizia. 28 I suoi figliuoli sorgono e la proclaman beata, e il suo marito la loda, dicendo: 29 “Molte donne si son portate valorosamente, ma tu le superi tutte”! 30 La grazia è fallace e la bellezza è cosa vana; ma la donna che teme l’Eterno è quella che sarà lodata. 31 Datele del frutto delle sue mani, e le opere sue la lodino alle porte!

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