Classic KJV - Proverbs 31:10

God has designed human beings as a dynamic duo! Of course, the text is addressed to men, not women, yet both are meant to learn diligently from it—to memorize it and apply it to their own lives. Young men will know what kind of women to look for, and young women will learn what virtues those young men should expect in them. Unfortunately a valuable component of its message is lost in the translation, making it more difficult to memorize and personalize.

Memorize and Meditate

In the Hebrew, each successive statement in this poem begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The author wanted the text to be learned by heart. It speaks both to the unmarried and those already in a marriage covenant. And, though addressing specifically the unique benefits of a wife and homemaker, Proverbs 31:10-31 also serves as a good checklist of the qualities to be developed by anyone in a support role, like an employee serving an employer. Heart-felt desire and personal discipline are valuable team-member credentials (Colossians 3:23).

Extremely Valuable

The expression, “far above jewels,” describes a treasure that, already surpassing silver and gold, now goes beyond jewels, and far beyond them. Such a woman brings her husband no lack of gain. So the KJV translates the same Hebrew word as “rubies,” and it’s elsewhere been translated as “coral” or “pearls.” And meditate on this: the same comparison—beyond silver, gold, and precious stones—is made in Proverbs 3:14-15, to praise the supreme value of wisdom! Is there a relationship between the union of a husband and his wife, and...wisdom?

Trust Trumps All

The heart of her husband trusts in her. Trust is the source and the summit of all such personal relationships, its beginning and its goal. It is also the foundation of all successful, productive commerce. The Hebrew word for trust, בּטח (bā•tăḥ, pronounced “bah-takh”), is better translated by the KJV as “safely trust.” It is a powerful expression denoting absolute confidence. In Psalm 115:9-11 God’s people are instructed to put this type of confidence in God Almighty. Isaiah 31:1 describes how such trust can be misplaced.

It all boils down to this. A husband will be greatly blessed, far beyond possessing wealth, by having a wife that he can trust completely. And what’s more, as a result of that contentment, married men consistently earn over ten percent more than single men, across the board.

Created for A Specific Purpose

From the very beginning woman was created to assist man—taken from his side to be with him in work and play. She was taken from his side to be his equal, indeed, to walk beside him, not ten feet behind him, however much other cultures twist this. “In the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27), and all mankind is descended from Adam and Eve. I love how Matthew Henry puts it:

The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.¹

The creation account has enormous implications for male-female relationships! A marital union is complementary, not egalitarian, rather like a knife and fork: two different instruments of equal value, but for different purposes.

Female Fulfillment

A woman is most fulfilled “in the home” when she helps her man succeed “out in the world.” The very name “woman” means taken from man (Genesis 2:18-25). Amazing. All animals roaming the surface of the earth were made from dust. Even Adam, the first man was made from dust (Genesis 2:7). The woman, however, was not made from dust, but from Adam’s side. She is unique! Why was this specific creative process magnified? One reason: To show the dignity of the woman as being fully equal to man, with a different role but with identical worth and honour.

Note the words of Melissa McDonald:

Through several poetic patterns, the poet of Proverbs 31 places the husband at the climax of the poem. He is at the beginning (Proverbs 31:11) and at the end (Proverbs 31:28,29) of the poem. Everything she does is oriented around him. All her other activities and her financial contributions are seen in relation to him. He is the center to all she does. She is spending herself for him, and they together for God.²

High Energy...Everything!

Note that in the many positive attributes in Proverbs 31, her "sexiness" is not even mentioned. Amazing! Sex should be first according to Hollywood and the mainstream media. Instead, the reader is warned against the shallowness of charm and beauty (Proverbs 31:30). But make no mistake. Any woman who excels in diligence, stamina, creativity, initiative, generosity, industry, and kindness (to name a few character gems) will enjoy and energize nuptial bliss.

A woman with all these qualities is obviously a superwoman. Find out more about her at What does Superwoman really look like? 

Our Maker, Saviour, and Friend

Will Jesus ever get a wife? Jesus never got married, at least not yet.

The bride of Jesus Christ is the Church (Ephesians 5:25-32), the true, universal church of God spanning all centuries and crossing all geographic boundaries (Revelation 7:9).

The Church, the bride of Christ, epitomizes the qualities of an excellent homemaker, especially her pure devotion to her husband and her practical righteousness (Revelation 19:7.8). Her beauty flows from the inside out (1 Peter 3:4).

1. Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary of the Bible (1756) Genesis 2:21 - (emphasis mine)

Observe, 1. That Adam was first formed, then Eve (1 Tim. 2:13), and she was made of the man, and for the man (1 Cor. 11:8, 9), all which are urged there as reasons for the humility, modesty, silence, and submissiveness, of that sex in general, and particularly the subjection and reverence which wives owe to their own husbands. Yet man being made last of the creatures, as the best and most excellent of all, Eve’s being made after Adam, and out of him, puts an honour upon that sex, as the glory of the man, 1 Cor. 11:7. If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust double-refined, one remove further from the earth. 2. That Adam slept while his wife was in making, that no room might be left to imagine that he had herein directed the Spirit of the Lord, or been his counsellor, Isa. 40:13. He had been made sensible of his want of a meet help; but, God having undertaken to provide him one, he does not afflict himself with any care about it, but lies down and sleeps sweetly, as one that had cast all his care on God, with a cheerful resignation of himself and all his affairs to his Maker’s will and wisdom. Jehovah-jireh, let the Lord provide when and whom he pleases. If we graciously rest in God, God will graciously work for us and work all for good. 3. That God caused a sleep to fall on Adam, and made it a deep sleep, that so the opening of his side might be no grievance to him; while he knows no sin, God will take care he shall feel no pain. When God, by his providence, does that to his people which is grievous to flesh and blood, he not only consults their happiness in the issue, but by his grace he can so quiet and compose their spirits as to make them easy under the sharpest operations. 4. That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved. Adam lost a rib, and without any diminution to his strength or comeliness (for, doubtless, the flesh was closed without a scar); but in lieu thereof he had a help meet for him, which abundantly made up his loss: what God takes away from his people he will, one way or other, restore with advantage. In this (as in many other things) Adam was a figure of him that was to come; for out of the side of Christ, the second Adam, his spouse the church was formed, when he slept the sleep, the deep sleep, of death upon the cross, in order to which his side was opened, and there came out blood and water, blood to purchase his church and water to purify it to himself. See Eph. 5:25, 26.

2. Who is the Proverbs 31 Woman?  by Melissa McDonald (October 4,2013) - Posted on the site cbmw.org (Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood)