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Journey of a Passage

Proverbs 31:10–31

The woman of strength: an alphabet, and a Greek gap

"Who can find a virtuous woman (eshet chayil)? for her price is far above rubies." Verses 10–31 form a complete Hebrew alphabetic acrostic, one verse per letter from alef to tav (all 22 checked in the library's Hebrew). Translations lose the alphabet. In the library's digital Greek, the poem is stored inside one slot labelled 31:31 and stops at verse 26; verses 27–31 are missing from the file.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

      The proverb as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

    2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

      Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Mulierem fortem quis inveniet? procul et de ultimis finibus pretium ejus.

      Latin position: Proverbs 31:10. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398).

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      אֵֽשֶׁת־חַ֭יִל מִ֣י יִמְצָ֑א וְרָחֹ֖ק מִפְּנִינִ֣ים מִכְרָֽהּ׃

      A woman of strength, who can find? Far beyond pearls is her worth

      Hebrew position: Proverbs 31:10.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Proverbs

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Beaucoup se prosternent devant la face du prince; mais c’est le Seigneur qui est le juge des hommes. Le juste est en abomination à l’injuste; et celui qui suit la droite voie est en abomination au pervers. Une femme forte, qui la trouvera? Une telle femme a plus de prix que les pierres précieuses. Le cœur de son mari a confiance en elle; jamais une telle femme n’aura besoin de recourir aux riches dépouilles d’un ennemi. Car elle emploie toute sa vie au bien de son époux. Elle dévide le lin et la laine, et elle fait de ses mains d’utiles travaux. Elle est comme un navire qui arrive de loin chargé de vivres; Elle se lève avant le jour pour donner sa provende à la maison, et leur tâche à ses servantes. Elle a considéré le champ, et l’a acheté; et, dans cette propriété, elle sème des graines que ses mains ont recueillies. Elle ceint fortement ses reins, et met à l’œuvre toute la force de ses bras. Elle sait par expérience que le travail est bon, et sa lampe ne s’éteint pas de toute la nuit. Elle étend les bras partout où il est utile, et ses mains ne quittent pas le fuseau. Elle a la main ouverte pour le pauvre, et présente un fruit au mendiant. Son mari n’a pas à s’inquiéter des gens de sa maison, quel que soit le lieu où il est retenu; car elle a vêtu tous ceux qui sont auprès d’elle. Elle a fait pour son mari des manteaux doubles, et pour elle-même des manteaux de fin lin et de pourpre. Son mari est considéré devant les portes de la ville, lorsqu’il siège au conseil avec les anciens de la terre. Elle fait des toiles de fin lin; elle vend des ceintures aux Chananéens. Elle ouvre la bouche avec prudence et mesure; elle a mis un frein à sa langue.

      Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 31:31. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). In chapters 24–31 the Greek follows a different order of collections, which the digital file squeezes into Hebrew slots; the matching line was found by content. No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies. The poem is stored in the file's slot 31:31.

    What changed, and why

    Eshet chayil: "woman of strength, valour, capability" (Ruth 3:11; Proverbs 12:4). The Vulgate's mulierem fortem ("a strong woman") keeps the sense; the KJV's "virtuous" narrows it.

    The acrostic: alef (v. 10, eshet), bet (v. 11, batach), gimel (v. 12, gemalathu), and so on to tav (v. 31, tenu). In the site's reader, open Proverbs 31 in the Hebrew to see each letter marked and highlighted, following the Psalm 119 model.

    The digital Greek: the Old Greek places this poem at the end of the book, after chapters 25–29. The library's file stores the Greek of 29:26–27 and 31:10–26 inside its slot "31:31," and has no text for 31:27–31. That gap belongs to the digital file; it is not evidence that the Greek translation lacked those verses (C check against Rahlfs).

    Reception: Jewish families sing Eshet Chayil on Friday evening (attested from the 16th–17th centuries); Christian readers have used it as a model of womanhood and allegorically of the Church. The poem praises; it is not a checklist.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedProverbs 31:10–31 is a complete alphabetic acrostic in the library's Hebrew.
    • Independently documentedThe library's digital Greek stores 31:10–26 inside its slot 31:31.
    • Independently documentedThe library's digital Greek has no text for 31:27–31. A gap in the file, not evidence about manuscripts.
    • Independently documentedThe Vulgate reads 'mulierem fortem.'

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Proverbs 31: A Woman of Strength →Proverbs ends with two pieces taught by or about women. In 31:1–9 King Lemuel repeats "the prophecy that his mother taught him": do not spend your strength on women or on wine, which make kings forget the law and pervert justice; "Open thy mouth for the dumb… plead the cause of the poor and needy." In 31:10–31 an alphabetic poem, every verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, praises the eshet chayil, "a woman of strength": she trades, buys a field, plants a vineyard, weaves and sells cloth, provides for her household before dawn, opens her hand to the poor, speaks wisdom and kindness, and "feareth the LORD." The book that opened with "the fear of the LORD" (1:7) ends with it (31:30).