Do (A)not give your strength to women,
    your ways to those (B)who destroy kings.
(C)It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
    it is not for kings (D)to drink wine,
    or for rulers to take (E)strong drink,
lest they drink and forget what has been decreed
    and (F)pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
Give strong drink to the one who (G)is perishing,
    and wine to (H)those in bitter distress;[a]
(I)let them drink and forget their poverty
    and remember their misery no more.
(J)Open your mouth for the mute,
    for the rights of all who are destitute.[b]
Open your mouth, (K)judge righteously,
    (L)defend the rights of (M)the poor and needy.

The Woman Who Fears the Lord

10 [c] (N)An excellent wife who can find?
    She is far more precious than (O)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 (P)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 (Q)rises while it is yet night
    and (R)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 (S)dresses herself[d] with strength
    and makes her arms strong.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 31:6 Hebrew those bitter in soul
  2. Proverbs 31:8 Hebrew are sons of passing away
  3. Proverbs 31:10 Verses 10–31 are an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
  4. Proverbs 31:17 Hebrew She girds her loins

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