Verses 23-27 refer to the honor and status this woman gains from her skill, and the prosperity she and her family enjoy because of her wisdom.

“Her husband is known in the gates”: This verse speaks of the honor “Her husband” receives because of her reputation. In this context “known” has the sense of “well-known” (Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) or “respected” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible). “In the gates” means among the leading citizens of the town or, as the next line suggests, as a member of the town assembly.

“When he sits among the elders of the land”: This says much the same as the previous line. “The land” probably does not refer to the whole country, but rather to the “town” or “city” (Contemporary English Version, Scott) where he lives, or perhaps the “region” (Revised English Bible).

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

“She makes linen garments and sells them”: This line expands on the first line of verse 18. Although a number of other versions follow Revised Standard Version in taking the Hebrew rendered “linen garments” to refer to “clothes” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), it is more likely, as Toy suggests, that “what the housewife made and sold was probably a square piece of cloth that could be used as an outer garment or as a night-dress.” So Revised English Bible says “She weaves linen and sells it,” and New Jerusalem Bible “She weaves materials and sells them.”

“She delivers girdles to the merchant”: New Revised Standard Version has revised this line to “she supplies the merchant with sashes.” Most other versions call these articles “sashes,” although Good News Translation uses the more common English word “belts.” “Delivers” is literally “gives,” but we should understand this as a normal trading exchange of goods for money. “The merchant” refers to a typical trader or business person; Contemporary English Version renders it as “shop owners.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

“Strength and dignity are her clothing”: Scott takes this line as referring literally to clothing (“Her clothing is of good quality and elegant”), but others take it as figurative language. The term “Strength” refers to physical strength in verse 17, but here it seems to mean strength of character. “Dignity” probably should be taken as meaning “honor” in this context; it describes a quality of character that people praise or respect. To say that qualities “are her clothing” or “She is clothed in [them]” (New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible) means that she shows those qualities in her life. This is simply expressed as “She is strong and respected” (Good News Translation).

“And she laughs at the time to come”: “The time to come” is literally “the day afterwards,” and this simply means “the future” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). To say that “she laughs at” the future may mean that she is “not afraid of the future” (Good News Translation), but it may also have the sense of “happily looks forward to. . .” (Scott).

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

“She opens her mouth with wisdom”: This is not very natural in English. The expression “She opens her mouth . . .” is an idiomatic way of saying “She speaks. . .” (New International Version, Good News Translation); see verse 8. Revised English Bible expresses the whole line as “When she opens her mouth, it is to speak wisely”; but this is more than the text requires, and New International Version “She speaks with wisdom” and Contemporary English Version “Her words are sensible” are good and clear models for translators.

“And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue”: For “teaching” see 1.8. In the expression “the teaching of kindness” the Hebrew term rendered “kindness” is chesed. This term may mean “love” or “kindness,” but it may also have the sense of “faithfulness” or “loyalty.” So on the one hand “the teaching of kindness” may mean something like “kindly instruction” (Scott, New Jerusalem Bible) or “her advice is thoughtful” (Contemporary English Version); on the other hand it may mean “faithful instruction” (New International Version) or “her teaching is sound” (Revised English Bible). “Is on her tongue” is an expression similar to “opens her mouth” in the previous line. It may be rendered in English simply as “her [instruction or advice].” Good News Translation appears to render this whole line by the single word “gentle,” but this really misses a number of elements of the meaning, and translators are advised not to compress the verse as Good News Translation has done.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

“She looks well to the ways of her household”: The Revised Standard Version rendering is not very clear in English. “She looks well to . . .” is better rendered in English as “She watches. . .” (Scott, New International Version); Revised English Bible expresses this idiomatically with “She keeps her eye on. . ..” See 15.3, where the same verb is translated by Revised Standard Version as “keeping watch.” “The ways of her household” refers to the “conduct” (Revised English Bible), “doings,” or “affairs” (New International Version) of the family. The literal sense of the line is that “She watches closely what goes on in her household” (Scott); but both Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version understand this to apply to the needs of the family, and they include this in their renderings. Good News Translation has “She . . . looks after her family’s needs,” and Contemporary English Version “She takes good care of her family”; these are both good models for translators.

“And does not eat the bread of idleness”: A number of English versions follow Revised Standard Version in reproducing the form of this idiom, but it is difficult for most readers to understand what it means. To “eat the bread of idleness” means to be habitually idle or lazy. So Contemporary English Version translates “She . . . is never lazy,” and Good News Translation “She is always busy”; and translators are advised to follow one of these models. Note that Good News Translation reverses the order of the lines for a natural expression in English; translators may find this helpful in other languages also.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Verses 28-29 speak of the way the members of the housewife’s family express their appreciation of her.

“Her children rise up and call her blessed”: Some versions take the term translated “rise up” as a literal action; New Jerusalem Bible, for example, has “Her children stand up and proclaim. . ..” But it seems better to understand it as a device for emphasis or focus on the verb that follows. So Revised English Bible translates “Her sons with one accord extol her virtues.” The verb rendered “call her blessed” is not the verb frequently used for pronouncing a blessing but a verb form that has the sense of “declaring someone happy”; a related form is found in 3.18, where Revised Standard Version translates “are called happy.”

Since the main verb in this line is a verb of speaking, it may be necessary or desirable in some languages to express it in direct speech. In one language, for instance, the translation says, “ ‘Hooray, hooray for our mother.’ That’s how the children of this woman talk.”

“Her husband also, and he praises her”: There is no word corresponding to “also” in the Hebrew, but something like this is required by the structure of the verse in English. For “praises” see 27.2. Translators should be careful in choosing the verb to render “he praises her”, because the words in the next verse are the praise words addressed to the woman herself in the second person. A rendering like “sings her praises” (New Jerusalem Bible, Scott) does not seem very appropriate in this context.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

“Many women have done excellently”: This verse gives the actual words of praise addressed by the husband to his wife. If the end of the previous verse does not indicate this, something like “He says,” should be included here. The term translated “excellently” is the same word as “good” used at the beginning of this poem in verse 10. If the verb “done” is retained, the expression may be rendered as something like “do noble things” (New International Version) or “have done admirable things” (New Jerusalem Bible); other ways of expressing it are “have proved their worth” (Scott) and “are good wives” (Good News Translation).

“But you surpass them all”: In Hebrew the separate pronoun “you” is used for emphasis at the beginning of the line. The word “but” has something of the same effect in English. “Surpass” is a form of the verb “go up” or “be high,” and in this context means to “be superior” or “be better than.” Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version express this very simply and naturally as “you are the best (of them all).” In other languages there are often idioms such as “You beat them all” or “You are the number one among them all.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Verses 30-31 are a conclusion to the poem. They sum up what the poet values in a wife.

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain”: “Charm” renders a Hebrew word that can mean “favor,” “grace,” or “elegance.” It occurs at 11.16 in the expression “a gracious woman” (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation); in this context, however, “Charm” is the appropriate term in English to refer to this quality of attractiveness in a woman. The term “deceitful” means that the “Charm” of the woman may mislead or trick people as to what she is really like. “Vain” is the Hebrew term hebel, which is a key term in the book of Ecclesiastes; its meaning there is something like “useless” (Good News Translation) or “meaningless” (New International Version). Here it is rendered as “fleeting” (New International Version, Revised English Bible), “disappears” (Good News Translation), “empty” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “fades away” (Contemporary English Version).

In some languages it is not possible to speak of qualities apart from the people who display them, as the Hebrew does here. If this is the case, it will be necessary to have a subject such as “woman” for this line. Two examples of how this may be done are: “A woman can talk sweetly to us, but her behavior may be different. And even if a woman looks very nice, she can’t stay that way for ever.” Or: “The nice behavior of a woman can easily trick a man [or, person], and a nice face does not last forever.”

“But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised”: “But” (along with the emphatic “she” in the last part of the line) emphasizes the contrast between the woman described here and those who are merely charming or beautiful. In some translations this contrast is expressed by saying “It is better for us to praise. . ..” As in other contexts, the expression “fears the Lord” does not mean “be afraid of the Lord” so much as “honors the Lord” (Contemporary English Version, Good News Translation) or “reverences the Lord” (Scott). The last part of the line says literally “she [emphatic] is praised”; the emphasis is brought out in New Jerusalem Bible “is the one to praise” and Scott “is the one deserving praise.” In some languages “praised” must be expressed as “all people should lift up her name” or “we [inclusive] should honor her.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .