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22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing
    and obtains favor from the Lord.(A)

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14 House and wealth are inherited from parents,
    but a prudent wife is from the Lord.(A)

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Ode to a Woman of Strength

10 A woman of strength who can find?
    She is far more precious than jewels.(A)
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.(B)
14 She is like the ships of the merchant;
    she brings her food from far away.
15 She rises while it is still night
    and provides food for her household
    and tasks for her female servants.(C)
16 She considers a field and buys it;
    with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds 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.(D)
21 She is not afraid for her household when it snows,
    for all her household are clothed in crimson.(E)
22 She makes herself coverings;
    her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the city gates,
    taking his seat among the elders of the land.(F)
24 She makes linen garments and sells them;
    she supplies the merchant with sashes.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,
    and she laughs at the time to come.(G)
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
    and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.(H)
27 She looks well to the ways of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.(I)
28 Her children rise up and call her happy;
    her husband, too, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
    but you surpass them all.”(J)
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.(K)
31 Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,
    and let her works praise her in the city gates.

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A good wife is the crown of her husband,
    but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.(A)

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Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun,[a] because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 9.9 Cn: Heb sun, all the days of your vanity

But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

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18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”(A)

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15 Drink water from your own cistern,
    flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be scattered abroad,
    streams of water in the streets?(A)
17 Let them be for yourself alone
    and not for sharing with strangers.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
    and rejoice in the wife of your youth,(B)
19     a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
May her breasts satisfy you at all times;
    may you be intoxicated always by her love.(C)
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman
    and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?[a](D)
21 For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord,
    and he examines all their paths.(E)
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them,
    and they are caught in the coils of their sin.(F)
23 They die for lack of discipline,
    and because of their great folly they are lost.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. 5.20 Heb alien woman

12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
    there Israel served for a wife,
    and for a wife he guarded sheep.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 12.12 Heb lacks sheep

35 For whoever finds me finds life
    and obtains favor from the Lord,(A)

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Then you will find favor and high regard
    in the sight of God and of people.(A)

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20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”(A)

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67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.(A)

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28 Jacob did so and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.

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