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.

핵심 본문

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.

이 장을 위한 질문

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.

노트에 추가

1 利慕伊勒王的言语，是他母亲教训他的真言。 2 我的儿啊，我腹中生的儿啊，我许愿得的儿啊！我当怎样[教训]你呢？ 3 不要将你的精力给妇女；也不要有败坏君王的行为。 4 利慕伊勒啊，君王喝酒，君王喝酒不相宜；王子说浓酒在那里也不相宜； 5 恐怕喝了就忘记律例，颠倒一切困苦人的是非。 6 可以把浓酒给将亡的人喝，把[清]酒给苦心的人喝， 7 让他喝了，就忘记他的贫穷，不再记念他的苦楚。 8 你当为哑巴开口，为一切孤独的伸冤。 9 你当开口按公义判断，为困苦和穷乏的辨屈。 10 才德的妇人谁能得着呢？她的价值远胜过珍珠。 11 她丈夫心里倚靠她，必不缺少利益； 12 她一生使丈夫有益无损。 13 她寻找羊绒和麻，甘心用手做工。 14 她好像商船从远方运粮来， 15 未到黎明她就起来，把食物分给家中的人，将当做的工分派婢女。 16 她想得田地就买来；用手所得之利栽种葡萄园。 17 她以能力束腰，使膀臂有力。 18 她觉得所经营的有利；她的灯终夜不灭。 19 她手拿捻线竿，手把纺线车。 20 她张手周济困苦人，伸手帮补穷乏人。 21 她不因下雪为家里的人担心，因为全家都穿着朱红衣服。 22 她为自己制作绣花毯子；她的衣服是细麻和紫色布做的。 23 她丈夫在城门口与本地的长老同坐，为众人所认识。 24 她做细麻布衣裳出卖，又将腰带卖与商家。 25 能力和威仪是她的衣服；她[想到]日后的景况就喜笑。 26 她开口就发智慧；她舌上有仁慈的法则。 27 她观察家务，并不吃闲饭。 28 她的儿女起来称她有福；她的丈夫也称赞她， 29 说：才德的女子很多，惟独你超过一切。 30 艳丽是虚假的，美容是虚浮的；惟敬畏耶和华的妇女必得称赞。 31 愿她享受操作所得的；愿她的工作在城门口荣耀她。

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