PROV 31:31 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 31:10–31: This poem describes a capable wife who has good character

In Hebrew, this section is arranged in the form of an acrostic poem. Each of its twenty-two verses begins with a different letter, following the normal order of the Hebrew alphabet. The poem praises the character and abilities of an ideal wife. After an introduction that describes her value (vv. 10–12), the poem describes her activities and achievements in various areas (vv. 13–27). It concludes with praise by her family (vv. 28–29) and all the people (vv. 30–31). The last two verses also serve as the poet’s final conclusion. They summarize what is truly important in an ideal wife.Waltke (page 515) says that the final two verses are praise “by all.” Murphy (page 245) agrees that the “praise” in the final two verses is the “goal or purpose of the poem.”

Some other headings for this section are:

A good wife with many abilities

Description of a Worthy Woman (NASB)

A truly good wife (CEV)

Paragraph 31:30–31

The words in this paragraph are the writer’s summary of the poem in 31:10–31. They are not a continuation of what the husband said in 31:29.

The overall meaning of this paragraph is that the ideal wife deserves to be praised by everyone. This paragraph also reminds the reader of the overall theme of Proverbs (1:7 and 9:10) that the basis of wisdom is a person’s fear of the LORD.Waltke (page 535).

31:31

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^31a Give her the fruit of her hands,

^31band let her works praise her at the gates.

31:31a

Give her the fruit of her hands,

A woman like this should be honored/rewarded for all the good things she has done.
Celebrate/Relate all that she has accomplished

Give her the fruit of her hands: The phrase the fruit of her hands refers to the things she has made or accomplished.

There are closely related textual and interpretation issues in this verse part. The Notes will discuss them together. Here are the main interpretations:

Some scholars think that the Hebrew text has a verb that means “honor” or “praise.” This text means that people should praise the woman for what she has accomplished. They should reward her by giving her credit or public recognition for her achievements.Scholars arrive at this interpretation in two ways: a) They propose that the original text had the verb tannu “commemorate,” “praise,” “celebrate” rather than the verb tǝnu “give” in the MT. b) They also propose that the word for “fruit” in this phrase refers to a reward, and that the reward is public recognition. See Waltke (page 514), Whybray (page 431), Murphy (pages 244–245) and Hubbard (page 486) for more details. For example:
Give her credit for what she has accomplished (NET) (CEV, GW, NCV, NAB, NET, NIV, NJPS, NLT, REB, GNT)The GW, NAB, NCV, NIV, and NLT all have “Reward her…” or “Give her a/the reward…” These versions are technically ambiguous, because the word “reward” could refer to a material reward. In light of the parallel line, TN regards this as unlikely and has listed these versions with interpretation (1).
The MT has “Give her some of the fruit of her hands.” It means that the people should give the woman a share of what she has made or earned. For example:
Give her a share in what her hands have worked for (NJB) (BSB, ESV, NASB, NJB, NRSV)

It is recommended that you follow option (1), along with most versions and scholars.Scholars who support interpretation (1) include Hubbard, Waltke, Toy, Whybray, Cohen, Murphy, and McKane. Fox, Longman, and Delitzsch say that both material reward (line 1) and public praise (line 2) may be involved. This option better fits the parallelism with 31:31b that speaks of the praise that the woman deserves due to her accomplishments.

Some other ways to translate this line are:

Reward her for what she has done (GW)

Praise her for all she has accomplished (REB)

Honor her for all that her hands have done (NIV11)

31:31a–b

(combined/reordered)

Such a woman deserves to be publicly honored to reward her for all her good deeds/work.

31:31b

and let her works praise her at the gates.

Everyone should praise her at the meeting place by the gate of the city for her diligent work.
in a meeting of her townmates. She certainly deserves a reward for the good things she has done.

and let her works praise her at the gates: This line has almost the same meaning as 31:31a. It means that she should be publicly honored at the normal gathering place near the gate of the city for all that she has accomplished. Some other ways to translate this line are:

let her achievements bring her honour at the city gates (REB)

she should be praised in public for what she has done (NCV)

General Comment on 31:31a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel parts in these lines. See 31:31a–b (combined/reordered) in the Display.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns

לָ֭⁠הּ & יָדֶ֑י⁠הָ וִֽ⁠יהַלְל֖וּ⁠הָ & מַעֲשֶֽׂי⁠הָ

to/for=her/it & her_hands_of,her and,let,them_praise_her & works_of,her

In this verse, her refers to the “woman fearful of Yahweh” mentioned in the previous verse. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: “to a woman fearful of Yahweh … that woman’s hands, and let that woman’s works praise her”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

מִ⁠פְּרִ֣י יָדֶ֑י⁠הָ

from_the=fruit her_hands_of,her

Here, the fruit of her hands could refer to: (1) any kind of reward that the woman deserves for her hard work. Alternate translation: “some reward for her work” (2) the money that the woman has earned by selling the clothing she made in [31:13](../31/13.md), like the nearly identical phrase “from the fruit of her palms” in [31:16](../31/16.md). Alternate translation: “from the money she has earned”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

וִֽ⁠יהַלְל֖וּ⁠הָ & מַעֲשֶֽׂי⁠הָ

and,let,them_praise_her & works_of,her

Here, Lemuel’s mother speaks of people praising this woman because of her works as if the works were people who were the ones praising her. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “and let people praise her for her works”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

בַ⁠שְּׁעָרִ֣ים

in,gates

See how you translated the same use of the gates in [1:21](../01/21.md) and [31:23](../31/23.md).

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.

OET interlinear PROV 31:31

Hebrew word order