THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN
(Proverbs 31:10-22, paraphrased,
with comments in ())

If there is a woman of virtue,
her worth is far greater than jewels.
Her husband can trust in her judgment,
for she does not listen to fools.

She doeth him good and not evil,
for all of the days of her life.
(Do you reckon that he ever tells her
that she is a wonderful wife?)

She shops for fine woolens and linens
and worketh them with her own hands.
Like ships of adventurous merchants,
she brings foods from far-distant lands.

She climbs out of bed before daylight
to furnish her household with meat.
She shops for a field and she buys it,
then plants it with vineyards kept neat.

Her loins and her arms are not flabby—
she knows what she’s doing is right.
She layeth her hands to the spindle;
her candle keeps burning all night!

She gives to the poor and the needy,
and she’s not afraid of the snow,
For she has well-clothed her household,
in scarlet, when winter winds blow.

She makes herself garments, becoming,
of tapestry, purple, and silk.
(Do you think she left any descendants . . .
or was she the last of her ilk?)



-- Helen J. Ewoldsen – 2-5-02