Read the passage and its setting
Proverbs 31:25–27, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Proverbs 31:25–27
Strength, wisdom, and attentive household care
The Main Point
uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.”
What Is Happening Here?
Proverbs 31:25–27 opens with “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come” and closes with “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of….” Those endpoints show the unit's movement from opening claim to reviewed close.
Context That Shapes This Passage
How does this passage relate?
Proverbs 31:25–27In “Strength, wisdom, and attentive household care,” the complete unit develops this passage-specific claim: uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.”
Why this relationship fits: The reviewed reasoning path begins, “Opening (31:25): the unit uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”.” and concludes, “Close (31:27): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”, creating the next supported pause.”
How does this passage relate?
Proverbs 31:25–27Proverbs 31:25–27 is the reviewed unit “Strength, wisdom, and attentive household care.” Its parallel lines, repeated address, comparison, or local cluster controls how each verse contributes without borrowing a neighboring unit's subject.
Why this relationship fits: The unit opens “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come” and closes “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of….”
What earlier material does it rely on?
Proverbs 31:22–24Proverbs 31:25–27 continues the earlier movement “Dignity, public trust, and commercial skill” by carrying “Strength, wisdom, and attentive household care.”
Why this relationship fits: The earlier unit ends “She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the…,” and this unit opens “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.”
What following material clarifies it?
Proverbs 31:28–31Proverbs 31:28–31 brings to a close this unit's “Strength, wisdom, and attentive household care” by carrying “Public praise grounded in fear of the LORD.”
Why this relationship fits: This unit ends “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of…,” and the following unit opens “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he….”
Where does this sit in the whole book?
Proverbs as a wholeProverbs 31:25–27 belongs to “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.” The closing acrostic praises an economically active, generous, wise, strong, and God-fearing woman in public. It is praise, not an exhaustive domestic checklist or a mandate imposed on every woman. This unit contributes humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility through its own received wording and form.
Why this relationship fits: The received sequence places Proverbs 31:25–27 inside Proverbs 31:10–31:31; this unit opens “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come” and closes “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of….” The unit's reviewed main point is: uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.”
Follow the Wisdom Collection
See why this section appears here and how the author's wisdom movement leads to its meaning.
Why Is This Passage Here?
Proverbs 31:25–27 continues “Dignity, public trust, and commercial skill” by carrying “Strength, wisdom, and attentive household care” within the same sustained discourse, admonition, numbered form, or poem.
Follow the Saying or Discourse
Opening (31:25): the unit uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”.
Development (31:25–27): adjacent lines test humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility through parallelism, contrast, motive, image, or consequence.
Close (31:27): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”, creating the next supported pause.
Why This Interpretation Fits
Exact verse-level work
Every line in Proverbs 31:25–27 retains its own Verse Lens role and does not borrow a neighboring verse's claim.
Collection context
The superscription and placement identify this unit inside “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength”: The closing acrostic praises an economically active, generous, wise, strong, and God-fearing woman in public. It is praise, not an exhaustive domestic checklist or a mandate imposed on every woman.
Proverbial proportion
The unit's instruction and observations concern humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility; they describe moral direction without explaining every exceptional outcome.
Understand the Meaning and Its Boundaries
Clarify the words that matter and keep the conclusion no broader than the passage allows.
What the Passage Is Not Saying
Reading Proverbs 31:25–27 as edited wisdom rather than a detached formula rules out these uses:
The saying does not justify humiliation, low self-worth, social erasure, or demanding submission from someone with less power.
The saying does not require silence about abuse, guarantee that gentle words stop danger, or make a harmed person responsible for another's aggression.
The saying does not promise a financial return, compel giving under manipulation, erase prudent limits, or let charity substitute for justice.
The unit does not turn a normal wisdom pattern into a universal promise, a complete causal explanation of suffering, or a mandate broader than Proverbs 31:25–27.
Context check: Within alphabetic praise of a woman of strength, uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
What Remains True Today
Teachability and truthful self-knowledge are safer than status-protection, self-exaltation, or contempt for correction. Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. Wisdom treats timely material care and openhandedness as moral practices, not merely private feeling. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
Respond and Remember
Let the meaning shape life carefully, then practice explaining the section in context.
How This Should Shape Us
Why these applications follow
Proverbs 31:25–27 applies humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility through the people, action, comparison, and consequence named in its complete movement.
Within alphabetic praise of a woman of strength, uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Teachability and truthful self-knowledge are safer than status-protection, self-exaltation, or contempt for correction. Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. Wisdom treats timely material care and openhandedness as moral practices, not merely private feeling. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
How does the application follow proportionately?
Invite specific feedback, test your assumptions, share credit, and repair the effects of pride rather than performing modesty. Pause, verify, listen, and choose truthful speech fitted to the hearer, timing, risk, and public consequences. Identify the concrete need, preserve the recipient's agency, give transparently, and combine immediate help with fair structures. In 31:25–27, let the concrete wording “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall…” keep that response tied to the people, action, comparison, or consequence actually named.
Teach It Back
Explain Proverbs 31:25–27 in your own words. Identify its form and collection, trace one line from role through contextual meaning and enduring truth to application, name one uncertainty, and reject one misuse explicitly.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go Deeper
The main explanation above stands on its own. Open these optional sections for fuller language, history, disagreements, and source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Exact verse-level work
Every line in Proverbs 31:25–27 retains its own Verse Lens role and does not borrow a neighboring verse's claim.
Collection context
The superscription and placement identify this unit inside “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength”: The closing acrostic praises an economically active, generous, wise, strong, and God-fearing woman in public. It is praise, not an exhaustive domestic checklist or a mandate imposed on every woman.
Proverbial proportion
The unit's instruction and observations concern humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility; they describe moral direction without explaining every exceptional outcome.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
No individual Hebrew or KJV expression in Proverbs 31:25–27 needs a separate lexical card beyond the complete saying or discourse explanation.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Edited wisdom and social setting
This unit belongs to alphabetic praise of a woman of strength. Aitken's printed pages 405-422 and the book-specific sources identify family, community, agricultural, commercial, scribal, court, and royal settings as relevant possibilities without proving one setting for every saying.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
No older-English term in this unit requires a separate reader note after reading the complete KJV line in context.
Earlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Israelite wisdom setting
The unit's first horizon is Israel's wisdom collection under fear of the LORD. Torah-shaped justice, creation, household teaching, royal responsibility, and community life may inform the language, but no cross-reference overrides this unit's own parallelism and collection role.
How certain? probableHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Responsible canonical location
Within the received book, The closing acrostic praises an economically active, generous, wise, strong, and God-fearing woman in public. It is praise, not an exhaustive domestic checklist or a mandate imposed on every woman. This local unit is read through that movement before broader canonical comparison.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
No reviewed textual variant changes Proverbs 31:25–27's central wisdom movement; the exact Hebrew and NET notes were still checked against the pinned KJV.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful readers disagree?
Best judgment: The unit's speaker, literary form, imagery, or arrangement carries named uncertainty. The judgment follows the received sequence without inventing a biography or forcing every image into one allegory.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
The unit places practical wisdom under a moral order answerable to the LORD: Teachability and truthful self-knowledge are safer than status-protection, self-exaltation, or contempt for correction. Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. Wisdom treats timely material care and openhandedness as moral practices, not merely private feeling.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
Within Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength, uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.”
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The saying does not justify humiliation, low self-worth, social erasure, or demanding submission from someone with less power.
A compact saying is easy to detach and universalize.
Within alphabetic praise of a woman of strength, uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Teachability and truthful self-knowledge are safer than status-protection, self-exaltation, or contempt for correction. Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. Wisdom treats timely material care and openhandedness as moral practices, not merely private feeling. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.”
The saying does not require silence about abuse, guarantee that gentle words stop danger, or make a harmed person responsible for another's aggression.
An ancient authority, household, wealth, gender, or consequence image can be imported into modern power without following the interpretation chain.
Within alphabetic praise of a woman of strength, uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Teachability and truthful self-knowledge are safer than status-protection, self-exaltation, or contempt for correction. Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. Wisdom treats timely material care and openhandedness as moral practices, not merely private feeling. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.”
The saying does not promise a financial return, compel giving under manipulation, erase prudent limits, or let charity substitute for justice.
An ancient authority, household, wealth, gender, or consequence image can be imported into modern power without following the interpretation chain.
Within alphabetic praise of a woman of strength, uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Teachability and truthful self-knowledge are safer than status-protection, self-exaltation, or contempt for correction. Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. Wisdom treats timely material care and openhandedness as moral practices, not merely private feeling. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.”
The unit does not turn a normal wisdom pattern into a universal promise, a complete causal explanation of suffering, or a mandate broader than Proverbs 31:25–27.
An ancient authority, household, wealth, gender, or consequence image can be imported into modern power without following the interpretation chain.
Within alphabetic praise of a woman of strength, uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.” The sayings function as context-shaped instruction and observation: general patterns are not automatic guarantees, commands stay bounded by their ancient role, and an individual line must not erase the edited collection around it.
Teachability and truthful self-knowledge are safer than status-protection, self-exaltation, or contempt for correction. Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. Wisdom treats timely material care and openhandedness as moral practices, not merely private feeling. These truths remain proportionate only when the proverb's literary form, affected people, exceptions, and wider fear-of-the-LORD frame remain visible.
The context-supported contribution remains: uses two-part parallelism to place “Strength and honour are her clothing” beside “and she shall rejoice in time to come”; by 31:27, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”. Together the unit concentrates on humility, teachability, pride, and reputation, speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility within “Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength.”
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Proverbs 31:25–27, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 31:25-31:27
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1181-1182, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 31:25–27
Supports: Whole-book and collection orientation, local commentary, social-setting proposals, and named interpretation limits.
Aitken, ‘Proverbs,’ Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 405-422, subsection covering 31:25–27 and the Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength outline
Supports: One historical-social account of poverty, wealth, interest, oppression, labor, and differing evaluations within the collection.
Wittenberg, ‘Situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth,’ Scriptura 21, pp. 1-23, especially the sayings and redactional comparison relevant to Proverbs 31:25–27
Supports: One relationship-oriented reading of the complete poem, bounded against universal checklist or household-mandate use.
Branch, ‘Proverbs 31:10-31,’ Koers 77.2 (2012), pp. 1-9, sections on acrostic structure, Woman Wisdom comparison, work, commerce, generosity, speech, fear, and praise relevant to Proverbs 31:25–27
Supports: Feminist and literary review of Wisdom, Folly, Strange Woman, mothers, wives, women in sentence sayings, and the closing woman of strength.
Hartwell, Wisdom, strange or somewhere in between (Birmingham PhD, 2017), pp. 13-25, 132-171, 172-204, 205-244, and 245-260 as relevant to the gendered figures and sayings in Proverbs 31:25–27
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: Proverbs 31:25–27, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Proverbs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 31:25-31:27
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Proverbs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
Exact location: NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1181-1182, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 31:25–27
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Proverbs
K. T. Aitken
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book and collection orientation, local commentary, social-setting proposals, and named interpretation limits.
Exact location: Aitken, ‘Proverbs,’ Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 405-422, subsection covering 31:25–27 and the Alphabetic praise of a woman of strength outline
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access journal article
The situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth in the Book of Proverbs
G. H. Wittenberg
Scriptura 21, 1987; open archive 2020
Supports: One historical-social account of poverty, wealth, interest, oppression, labor, and differing evaluations within the collection.
Exact location: Wittenberg, ‘Situational context of statements concerning poverty and wealth,’ Scriptura 21, pp. 1-23, especially the sayings and redactional comparison relevant to Proverbs 31:25–27
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access journal article
Proverbs 31:10-31: A passage containing wisdom principles for a successful marriage
Robin Gallaher Branch
Koers 77.2, article a49, 2012
Supports: One relationship-oriented reading of the complete poem, bounded against universal checklist or household-mandate use.
Exact location: Branch, ‘Proverbs 31:10-31,’ Koers 77.2 (2012), pp. 1-9, sections on acrostic structure, Woman Wisdom comparison, work, commerce, generosity, speech, fear, and praise relevant to Proverbs 31:25–27
Open source ↗open access doctoral thesis
Wisdom, strange or somewhere in between: in search of a real woman in the Book of Proverbs
Jeanette May Hartwell
University of Birmingham, 2017
Supports: Feminist and literary review of Wisdom, Folly, Strange Woman, mothers, wives, women in sentence sayings, and the closing woman of strength.
Exact location: Hartwell, Wisdom, strange or somewhere in between (Birmingham PhD, 2017), pp. 13-25, 132-171, 172-204, 205-244, and 245-260 as relevant to the gendered figures and sayings in Proverbs 31:25–27
Open source ↗