Moff PROV Chapter 31

3 

Waste not your strength on women,

your love on these destroyers of a king.

4 

It is not for kings to be quaffing wine,

nor for princes to be swilling liquor;

5 

lest in their cups they forget their law

and misjudge a case of misery.

6 

Give liquor to a perishing soul,

give him wine in his bitter plight,

7 

that so he may forget his poverty,

and think no more about his misery.

8 

Do justice to a widow,

and let orphans have their rights;

9 

decide your cases fairly,

champion the weak and wretched.

10 

A rare find is an able wife--

she is worth far more than rubies!

11 

Her husband may depend on her,

and never lose by that;

12 

she brings him profit and no loss,

from first to last.

13 

She looks out wool and flax,

and works it up with a will.

14 

She is like merchant ships,

fetching food-stuffs from afar.

15 

She rises before dawn,

to feed her household

handing her maids their rations.

16 

She purchases land prudently;

with her earnings she plants a vineyard.

18 

She finds that industry is profitable;

the lamp burns all night in her house.

17 

She girds herself to work,

and plies her arms with vigour;

19 

she sets her hand to the distaff

her fingers hold the spindle.

21 

She fears not snow for her household;

for they all wear scarlet wool.

22 

She has mantles made for herself,

she is robed in linen and purple.

20 

To poor folk she is generous

and lends a hand to the forlorn.

23 

Her husband is a man of note

he sits with the sheikhs in council.

24 

She makes linen yarn and sells it;

she supplies girdles to the traders.

25 

Strong and secure is her position;

she can afford to laugh, looking ahead.

26 

She talks shrewd sense,

and offers kindly counsel.

27 

She keeps an eye upon her household;

she never eats the bread of idleness.

28 

Her sons congratulate her,

and thus her husband praises her:

29 

“Many a woman does nobly,

but you far outdo them all!”

30 

Charms may wane and beauty wither,

keep your praise for a wife with brains:

31 

give her due credit for her deeds

praise her in public for her services.