Proverbs 31
The full text of Proverbs 31 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 The words of King Lemuel, the oracle that his mother taught him:
2 What are you doing, my son?
What are you doing, son of my womb?
What are you doing, son of my vows?
3 Give not your strength to women,
nor your ways to those who destroy kings.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
it is not for kings to drink wine,
or for rulers to desire strong drink,
5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed
and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
8 Open your mouth for the mute,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously,
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
10 [Aleph] A valiant woman who can find?
She is far more precious than rubies.
11 [Beth] Her husband's heart trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12 [Gimel] She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 [Dalet] She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 [He] She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
15 [Vav] She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
16 [Zayin] She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 [Chet] She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
18 [Tet] She perceives that her merchandise is profitable;
her lamp does not go out at night.
19 [Yod] She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
20 [Kaph] She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 [Lamed] She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
22 [Mem] She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 [Nun] Her husband is known in the gates,
where he sits among the elders of the land.
24 [Samekh] She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 [Ayin] Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 [Pe] She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 [Tsadi] She watches over the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 [Qoph] Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband too, and he praises her:
29 [Resh] 'Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.'
30 [Shin] Charm is deceitful, and beauty is fleeting,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 [Tav] Give her the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.
Translation notes (9)
- Proverbs 31:1a Lemuel appears nowhere else in Scripture; Jewish tradition identified him with Solomon, but the name is otherwise unknown. Hebrew massa (מַשָּׂא), 'oracle', may instead be a place name, since Massa was an Arabian tribe descended from Ishmael (Genesis 25:14); on that reading Lemuel was a foreign king whose mother's instruction was preserved in Israel's wisdom collection.
- Proverbs 31:3a The Masoretic Text reads lamchot melakhin (לַמְחוֹת מְלָכִין), literally 'to those who wipe out kings'; melakhin shows an Aramaic-style plural ending, consistent with the foreign origin of Lemuel's oracle. The verb machah, 'to wipe out' or 'to blot out', pictures women whose favors ruin rulers, and chayil, 'strength', can also denote wealth or vigor.
- Proverbs 31:6a Hebrew le'oved, 'to the one perishing', and marei nafesh, literally 'bitter of soul', describe the dying and the deeply distressed. The counsel reflects the ancient palliative use of strong drink; the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) cites this verse when describing drugged wine given to the condemned, a custom echoed in the wine mixed with myrrh offered to Jesus in Mark 15:23.
- Proverbs 31:9a To open the mouth is a Hebrew legal idiom for speaking as an advocate in court, here on behalf of those who cannot plead their own case. The command shephat-tsedeq, literally 'judge righteousness', pairs with din, 'the legal claim', of the ani ve'evyon, 'poor and needy', concluding Lemuel's charge that royal power exists for the defenseless.
- Proverbs 31:10a Proverbs 31:10-31 is an acrostic poem, meaning each verse begins with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
- Proverbs 31:21a Hebrew shanim (שָׁנִים), 'scarlet', differs only in vocalization from shenayim, 'double', and the Septuagint and Vulgate accordingly render the phrase as double-layered garments. Both readings convey preparedness for winter: scarlet dye marked costly, well-made wool, while doubled clothing gave warmth. This translation follows the Masoretic vocalization.
- Proverbs 31:25a The Hebrew tischaq le-yom acharon is literally 'she laughs at a later day'. The idiom expresses fearless confidence: her provision and character leave her unafraid of whatever the future brings. Yom acharon here means the days ahead generally, not the eschatological last day, though some later interpreters read it that way.
- Proverbs 31:27a Tsophiyah, 'she watches over', derives from the root tsaphah, the verb used of the watchman on the city wall (as in Ezekiel 3:17), casting the woman as sentinel of her household. Al Wolters has argued the form also puns on the Greek sophia, 'wisdom', fitting the poem's theme. The contrast is with atslut, 'idleness', the sluggard's vice elsewhere in Proverbs.
- Proverbs 31:30a Hebrew hevel, 'vapor' or 'breath', rendered here as 'fleeting', is the word made famous by Ecclesiastes. The verse crowns the acrostic by returning to the book's opening theme: the fear of the LORD, which Proverbs 1:7 calls the beginning of knowledge, is named as the valiant woman's defining virtue.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Hebrew and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Proverbs, is free to read here on the web.
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