Add parallel Print Page Options

15 Then she rose[a] while it was still night,
and provided[b] food[c] for her household and a portion[d] to her female servants.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 31:15 tn The first word of the sixth line begins with ו (vav), the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.tn The verb וָתָּקָם (vattaqom) is a preterite and therefore is past tense.
  2. Proverbs 31:15 tn The verb וַתִּתֵּן (vattitten) is a preterite and therefore is past tense.
  3. Proverbs 31:15 sn The word for “food” is טֶרֶף (teref, “prey”; KJV “meat”), another word that does not normally fit the domestic scene. This word also is used in a similar way in Ps 111:5, which says the Lord gives food. Here it is the noble woman who gives food to her family and servants.
  4. Proverbs 31:15 sn The word חֹק (khoq) probably means “allotted portion of food” as before, but some suggest it means the task that is allotted to the servants, meaning that the wise woman gets up early enough to give out the work assignments (Tg. Prov 31:15, RSV, NRSV, TEV, NLT). That is possible, but seems an unnecessary direction for the line to take. Others, however, simply wish to delete this last colon, leaving two cola and not three, but that is unwarranted.