The Virtuous Woman as Spoken by the Wisest King
“An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.”
- Proverbs 12:4 New American Standard Bible (©1995)
“A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but a wife who puts him to shame is like bone cancer.”
- Proverbs 12:4 International Standard Version (©2012)
“A diligent woman is a crown to her husband: and she that doth things worthy of confusion, is a rottenness in his bones.”
- Proverbs 12:4 Douay-Rheims Bible
Pulpit Commentary:
Such a wife poisons her husband’s life, deprives him of strength and vigour; though she is made “bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh” (Genesis 2:23), far from being a helpmate for him, she saps his very existence. Septuagint, “As a worm in a tree, so an evil woman destroyeth a man.” Here again Siracides has much to say, “A wicked woman abateth the courage, maketh an heavy countenance and a wounded heart: a woman that will not comfort her husband in distress maketh weak hands and feeble knees” (Ecclus. 25:23).
Thus runs a Spanish maxim (Kelly, ‘Proverbs of All Nations’) -
“Him that has a good wife no evil in life
that may not be borne can befall;
Him that has a bad wife no good thing in life
that chance to, that good you may call.”
“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.”
- Proverbs 31:10 King James Version
“Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life.”
- Proverbs 31:11 New Living Translation (©2007)
“Her husband has full confidence in her; as a result, he lacks nothing of value.”
- Proverbs 31:11 International Standard Version (©2012)
“She rewards him with good, not evil, all the days of her life.”
- Proverbs 31:12 Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
“She will bring good to him—never evil— every day of her life.”
- Proverbs 31:12 International Standard Version (©2012)
She helps him and never harms him all the days of her life.
- Proverbs 31:12 GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible:
She will do him good, and not evil… Or, repay good unto him, give him thanks for all the good things bestowed by him on her; will seek his interest, and promote his honour and glory to the uttermost; all the good works she does, which she is qualified for, and ready to perform, are all done in his name and strength, and with a view to his glory; nor will she do any evil willingly and knowingly against him, against his truths and ordinances; or that is detrimental to his honour, and prejudicial to his interest
“Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.”
- Proverbs 31:33 King James Version
“Her husband is well known; he sits among the leaders of the land.”
- Proverbs 31:33 International Standard Version (©2012)
“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
- Proverbs 31:29 New International Version (©2011)
“Many women are capable, but you surpass them all!”
- Proverbs 31:29 Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
“Many women have done wonderful things,” he says, “but you surpass all of them!”
- Proverbs 31:29 International Standard Version (©2012)
“While I was still searching but not finding– I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.”
- Ecclesiastes 7:28 New International Version (©2011)
“Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman!”
- Ecclesiastes 7:28 New Living Translation (©2007)
“Which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman.”
- Ecclesiastes 7:28 Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
“Among the things I seek but have not found: one man among a thousand I did find, but I have not found one woman to be wise among all these.”
- Ecclesiastes 7:28 International Standard Version (©2012)
Pulpit Commentary:
He found only one man among a thousand that reached his standard of excellence – the ideal that he had formed for himself, who could be rightly called by the noble name of man.
Not one woman in a thousand who was what a woman ought to be. Says the Son of Sirach, “All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman; let the portion of a sinner fall upon her” (Ecclus. 25:19). So the Greek gnome -
“The sea, fire, and woman are three evils.”
- Greek Saying
“There is no thing wickeder than a woman of evil temper.”
- English Saying
Solomon had a thousand wives and concubines, and his experience might well have been that mentioned in this passage.
