Proverbs 31
I'm reading through the Old Testament day by day right now. Somedays I read only 2-3 chapters and it takes me an hour because my attention is required by others every 30 seconds. Other days I have the privilege of reading relatively uninterrupted. Well, it happened once. I read Deuteronomy in one day, which was (I think) how it was intended to be read: the majority of the book was Moses' farewell sermon to the children of Israel, presumabley delivered in one sitting.
But I'm forgetting my point. I only wanted to mention an interesting item in the footnotes of my Bible:
Did you know (am I the only one who didn't know?) that the Virtuous Wife portion of Proverbs 31 is an acrostic poem? Each verse, from 10-31, starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, all in order from start to finish.
I never knew that.
It makes me want to craft my own paraphrasing of the passage in English, but what would I do for the our 4 leftover letters since the Hebrew alphabet only has 22 letters? Maybe 4 of the verses could be split into 2 stanzas each.
A virtuous wife is worth more than rubies
Bold is her husband, trusting in her
Can his good wife harm him?
Diligently she works with her hands,
Even spinning the wool and flax.
Food she brings like a ship from afar
Giving portions to all in the house...
There. I've already worked in one extra letter. Would anyone care to pick up where I've left off?
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Filed under: Bible
I did a pretty extensive study on the Proverbs 31 woman and was completely blown away by her beauty. I too did not know that it was an acrostic poem at that time.
I enjoy your site very much and have added you as a blog I enjoy….I just wanted to stop in a say hi.
JOYfully in Him,
Kelli
Thank you for raising this beautiful journal.
I will most certainly look at this in more detail and get back.
Blessings to you all from Scotland
Her mind and hands bear wise fruit.
In strength she is dressed.
Hee hee hee
Can his good wife harm him?
hee hee… It just doesn’t sound the same that way? Depending on your mood – it could be sort of a wistful question? Can I? Can I? Huh?
And no, I’m not mad at my husband. ;-p I just thought it was funny.
Another thing to remember is that although the qualities in Proverbs 31 are wonderful things to pattern our lives after, the passage wasn’t given specifically as direction to women; it was given to a young man to recognize a priceless woman when he saw one! May we teach our sons as well!