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.

장 주석 열기

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 Words of Lemuel a king, a declaration that his mother taught him: 2 'What, my son? and what, son of my womb? And what, son of my vows? 3 Give not to women thy strength, And thy ways to wiping away of kings. 4 Not for kings, O Lemuel, Not for kings, to drink wine, And for princes a desire of strong drink. 5 Lest he drink, and forget the decree, And change the judgment of any of the sons of affliction. 6 Give strong drink to the perishing, And wine to the bitter in soul, 7 He drinketh, and forgetteth his poverty, And his misery he remembereth not again. 8 Open thy mouth for the dumb, For the right of all sons of change. 9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, Both the cause of the poor and needy!' 10 A woman of worth who doth find? Yea, far above rubies [is] her price. 11 The heart of her husband hath trusted in her, And spoil he lacketh not. 12 She hath done him good, and not evil, All days of her life. 13 She hath sought wool and flax, And with delight she worketh [with] her hands. 14 She hath been as ships of the merchant, From afar she bringeth in her bread. 15 Yea, she riseth while yet night, And giveth food to her household, And a portion to her damsels. 16 She hath considered a field, and taketh it, From the fruit of her hands she hath planted a vineyard. 17 She hath girded with might her loins, And doth strengthen her arms. 18 She hath perceived when her merchandise [is] good, Her lamp is not extinguished in the night. 19 Her hands she hath sent forth on a spindle, And her hands have held a distaff. 20 Her hand she hath spread forth to the poor, Yea, her hands she sent forth to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of her household from snow, For all her household are clothed [with] scarlet. 22 Ornamental coverings she hath made for herself, Silk and purple [are] her clothing. 23 Known in the gates is her husband, In his sitting with elders of the land. 24 Linen garments she hath made, and selleth, And a girdle she hath given to the merchant. 25 Strength and honour [are] her clothing, And she rejoiceth at a latter day. 26 Her mouth she hath opened in wisdom, And the law of kindness [is] on her tongue. 27 She [is] watching the ways of her household, And bread of sloth she eateth not. 28 Her sons have risen up, and pronounce her happy, Her husband, and he praiseth her, 29 'Many [are] the daughters who have done worthily, Thou hast gone up above them all.' 30 The grace [is] false, and the beauty [is] vain, A woman fearing Jehovah, she may boast herself. 31 Give ye to her of the fruit of her hands, And her works do praise her in the gates!

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