Proverbs 14:1

Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
wise	חׇכְמוֹת chokmôwth	H2454	wisdom
woman	נָ֭שִׁים Na.shim	H802	a woman · noun, common masculine plural absolute
buildeth	בָּנְתָ֣ה ba.ne.Tah	H1129	to build (literally and figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
house	בֵיתָ֑הּ vei.Tah	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
foolish	וְ֝אִוֶּ֗לֶת ve.'i.Ve.let	H200	silliness · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
down	תֶהֶרְסֶֽנּוּ te.her.Se.nu	H2040	to pull down or in pieces · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hands	בְּיָדֶ֥יהָ be.ya.Dei.ha	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 31:10-31 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
Proverbs 24:3-4 Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:
Proverbs 21:9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Proverbs 21:19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
Ruth 4:11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like…
Proverbs 9:13-15 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.
Proverbs 19:13 A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.
1 Kings 16:31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Proverbs 14:1

Every wise woman buildeth her house,.... Not only by her fruitfulness, as Leah and Rachel built up the house of Israel; but by her good housewifery, prudent economy; looking well to the ways of her household; guiding the affairs of her house with discretion; keeping all things in a good decorum; and bringing up her children in virtue, and in the fear and admonition of the Lord. So Christ, who in this book goes by the name of "Wisdom", or the wise woman, builds his house upon himself, the Rock; and all his people on their most holy faith, by means of the ministry of the word, and administration of ordinances: he guides and governs his house, where he is, as a Son in it and over it; and of who…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 14:1

1 The wisdom of the woman buildeth her house, And folly teareth it down with its own hands. Were it חכמות נשׁים, after Jdg 5:29, cf. Isa 19:11, then the meaning would be: the wise among women, each of them buildeth her house. But why then not just אשּׁה חכמה, as Sa2 14:2, cf. Exo 35:25? The Syr., Targum, and Jerome write sapiens mulier. And if the whole class must be spoken of, why again immediately the individualizing in בּנתה? The lxx obliterates that by its ᾠκοδόμησαν. And does not אוּלת [folly] in the contrasted proverb (1b) lead us to conclude on a similar abstract in 1a? The translators conceal this, for they translate אולת personally. Thus also the Venet. and Luther; אוּלת is, says…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 14:1

Building or tearing down the home is a metaphor for strengthening or weakening one’s family.

Rashi on Proverbs 14:1

The wisest of women Heb. חכמות, vowelized with a “patach,” is not a noun, but [it means that] the wisest of women build their houses, for they are preserved by them, like the wife of On the son of Peleth, as is explained in the chapter entitled “Chelek.” but a foolish one Heb. ואולת. But a foolish woman. tears it down with her hands She tears down her house. This is Korah’s wife.]

The Church Fathers

"The wise women built up their homes." The church built its house with its patience and hope in Christ, that is, it has roused and restored those entering it with its doctrine and faith. "The foolish destroyed it with her own hand." This is the heresy which becomes the cause for their eternal death.
— John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, FRAGMENT 14:1

A wise woman will build her house, etc. And each faithful soul, and the universal Church throughout the world, builds her mansion in the heavenly homeland through good deeds; but the wicked, by living badly and sometimes openly resisting, dissipate what has been well ordered by the good. But why the foolish tear apart the acts of the wise is shown in the following words, as it is said:
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

And it was also said, "A wise woman builds a house, but the foolish will destroy it with her hands." This means that the wise woman encourages her neighbor in the fear of God and the love which is in her heart toward her sister and her sisters. But, on the other hand, the foolish woman will destroy them by her words full of bitterness, hatred, wickedness and scorn, even as it is written, "A rod of scorn is in the mouth of the foolish," and that means you.
— Besa The Copt, FRAGMENT 29, LETTER TO ANTINOE 2:3-4

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Women — The position of women in the Hebrew commonwealth contrasts favorably with that which in the present day is assigned to them generally in eastern countries. The most salient point of contrast in the…
Family · INFELICITY IN — INFELICITY IN
Fool · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Wife · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).