What the Bible Says About the Meaning of a Man Who Waited for His Wife

Scripture

¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel.
¹⁹ Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.”
²⁰ So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
²¹ Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”
²² So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.
²³ But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.
²⁴ Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.
²⁵ And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”
²⁶ Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
²⁷ Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years.”
²⁸ Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
²⁹ Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.
³⁰ So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.

Genesis 29:18-30

Hosea 3:1-5: ¹ And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”
² So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.
³ And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”
⁴ For the people of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.
⁵ Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

Genesis 24:1-67: ¹ Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
² And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh,
³ that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,
⁴ but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
⁵ The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”
⁶ And Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there.
⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.
⁸ If the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.”
⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
¹⁰ Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor.
¹¹ And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
¹² And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.
¹³ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water.
¹⁴ Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
¹⁵ Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.
¹⁶ The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known.
¹⁷ The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.”
¹⁸ She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.
¹⁹ After she had given him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
²⁰ and quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.
²¹ The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not.
²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels,
²³ And said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
²⁴ She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.”
²⁵ She added, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.”
²⁶ The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord.
²⁷ saying, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”
²⁸ The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
²⁹ Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out toward the man, to the spring.
³⁰ As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
³¹ He said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”
³² So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
³³ Then food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” So he said, “Speak on.”
³⁴ So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
³⁵ The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys.
³⁶ And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all that he has.
³⁷ My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell,
³⁸ but you shall go to my father’s house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.’
³⁹ I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not come with me.’
⁴⁰ He said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way.
⁴¹ Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
⁴² “I came today to the spring and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you are prospering the way that I go,”
⁴³ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,”
⁴⁴ and she shall say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,” let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
⁴⁵ “Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’”
⁴⁶ She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also.
⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms.
⁴⁸ Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son.
⁴⁹ Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”
⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good.
⁵¹ Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”
⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord.
⁵³ And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.
⁵⁴ Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my master.”
⁵⁵ But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.”
⁵⁶ But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”
⁵⁷ They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.”
⁵⁸ And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.”
⁵⁹ So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men.
²⁴ They blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!”
⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way.
⁶² Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb.
⁶³ And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming.
⁶⁴ And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.
⁶⁵ and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.
⁶⁶ And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
⁶⁷ Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Judges 14:1-20: ¹ Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
² Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
³ But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
⁴ His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
⁵ Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring.
⁶ Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
⁷ Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.
⁸ After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
⁹ He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate.
¹⁰ His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.
¹¹ And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”
¹² And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes,
¹³ But if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.”
¹⁴ And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” And in three days they could not solve the riddle.
¹⁵ On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”
¹⁶ And Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.”
¹⁷ She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people.
¹⁸ And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”
¹⁹ And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.
²⁰ And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

1 Samuel 25:2-42: ² And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats.
³ Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite.
⁴ David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
⁵ So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name.
⁶ And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.
⁷ I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel.
⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.
⁹ When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited.
¹⁰ And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters.
¹¹ Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?”
¹² So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this.
¹³ And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword.
¹⁴ But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them.
¹⁵ Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them.
¹⁶ They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
¹⁷ Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”
¹⁸ Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.
¹⁹ And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
²⁰ And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.
²¹ Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good.
²² God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”
²³ When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground.
²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.
²⁵ Please let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.
²⁶ Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.
²⁷ And now this present that your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
²⁸ Please forgive the trespass of your servant.
²⁹ If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.
³⁰ And when the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel,
³¹ that this shall be no grief to you or pangs of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause or that my lord has avenged himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
³² And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!
³³ Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand.
³⁴ Nevertheless, as your soul lives, the Lord, the God of Israel, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.”
³⁵ So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice and granted your petition.”
³⁶ And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light.
³⁷ In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
³⁸ And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife.
⁴⁰ When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”
⁴¹ And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”
⁴² And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

Ruth 4:1-13: ¹ Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.
² And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.
³ Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.
⁴ So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.”
⁵ Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”
⁶ Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel.
⁸ So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal.
⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon.
¹⁰ Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”
¹¹ Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem,
¹² and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.

Genesis 2:18-25: ¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
¹⁹ Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.
²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
²³ Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

1 Corinthians 7:1-16: ¹ Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
² But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
³ The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
⁴ For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
⁵ Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
⁶ Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.
⁷ I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
⁸ To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.
⁹ But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
¹⁰ To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband.
¹¹ (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
¹² To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.
¹³ If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.
¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
¹⁵ But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.
¹⁶ For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Ephesians 5:22-33: ²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
²⁸ In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
³⁰ because we are members of his body.
³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Proverbs 31:10-31: ¹⁰ An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
¹² She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
¹³ She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.
¹⁴ She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
¹⁵ She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
¹⁸ She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
²⁰ She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
²¹ She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.
²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷ She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.