Proverbs 31


Proverb 31 is the 31st chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is presented as advice which Lemuel's mother gave to him, about how a just king should reign, and in the second part detailing the attributes of a good wife or ideal woman.

Text

The original text was written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 31 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus.

The words of Lemuel (31:1–9)

In this part, a queen-mother gives instruction to her son, King Lemuel, on his duty to administer justice. Using the appeal to his filial respect to a mother and his birth as an answer of a prayer, the mother warns the king against sexual promiscuity and drunkenness. The 8th and 9th verses are an appeal against inequality and injustice:

The good wife (31:10–31)

Verses 10–31 of the chapter are called Eshet Ḥayil. It is a praise of the good wife, a definition of a perfect wife or "ideal woman" in the nation of Israel, who is 'an industrious housewife, a shrewd businesswoman, an enterprising trader, a generous benefactor and a wise teacher. This "Woman of Valor" has been described as the personification of wisdom, or in some sense as a description of a particular class of Women in Israel, Persia, or in Hellenistic society. It is one of the thirteen alphabetical acrostic poems in the Bible, where each line begins with a successive letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The word חיל appears in verses 10 and 29 of the passage, thought as the summary of the good woman's character. Traditionally it has been translated "virtuous" or "noble". Some scholars have suggested that it rather means "forceful", "mighty", or "valiant", because this word is almost exclusively used in the Tanakh with reference to warfare.

Uses

This chapter is recited on Friday night before Shabbat dinner in some Jewish homes. Some see this as a praise directed from the husband to his wife.
The chapter has been emphasized within the biblical womanhood movement, and a number of books have been published on the "Proverbs 31 woman". This emphasis has been subject to criticism in Christian articles. In Christian circles, this chapter has often been held up as the prime example of what a woman should be and in many cases it has been misinterpreted and misused. This passage was intended to show a young man the qualities he should look for in a wife and the things he should value in her; it was not intended to be a checklist for women.