to treat a person (well or ill) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
good
ט֣וֹבTov
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
evil
רָ֑עRa'
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
days
יְמֵ֣יye.Mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural construct
life
חַיֶּֽיהchai.Yeih
H2416
alive · noun, common masculine plural 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
1 Samuel 25:18-22 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched co…
1 Samuel 25:26-27 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 31:10–end
This description of the virtuous woman is designed to show what wives the women should make and what wives the men should choose; it consists of twenty-two verses, each beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order, as some of the Psalms, which makes some think it was no part of the lesson which Lemuel's mother taught him, but a poem by itself, written by some other hand, and perhaps had been commonly repeated among the pious Jews, for the ease of which it was made alphabetical. We have the abridgment of it in the New Testament (Ti1 2:9, Ti1 2:10, Pe1 3:1-6), where the duty prescribed to wives agrees with this description of a good wife; and with good reason is so much stress laid…
She will do him good, and not evil,.... Or, repay good unto him, give him thanks for all the good things bestowed by him on her; will seek his interest, and promote his honour and glory to the uttermost; all the good works she does, which she is qualified for, and ready to perform, are all done in his name and strength, and with a view to his glory; nor will she do any evil willingly and knowingly against him, against his truths and ordinances; or that is detrimental to his honour, and prejudicial to his interest, 2 Corinthians 13:8;
all the days of her life; through which she desires to serve him in righteousness and true holiness; and to be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in his…
12 ג She doeth good to him, and not evil,
All the days of her life;
or, as Luther translates:
"Sie thut jm liebs und kein leids."
[She does him good, and no harm.]
She is far from ever doing him evil, she does him only good all her life long; her love is not dependent on freaks, it rests on deep moral grounds, and hence derives its power and purity, which remain ever the same. גּמל signifies to accomplish, to perform. To the not assimilated form גּמלתהוּ, cf. יסּרתּוּ, 1b.
The Church Fathers
For she works good and not evil for her husband, at all times. Hence it is that this woman plunders nations, by working good and not evil for her husband. At all times she works good and not evil. Not for herself, but for her husband, so that he who lives, may no longer live for himself, but for him who died and rose again for all. Therefore, she works good for her husband, she works good before God. She serves him, she is devoted to him, she loves him, she always strives to please him. She does not adorn herself, neither for her own eyes, nor for the eyes of others. She is not one of those who please themselves, she is not one of those who seek their own: For she works for her husband. But those who work for themselves, all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
"She brings him good, and not harm," etc. For the soul renders good to Christ when, receiving the gifts of life from Him, it responds by living rightly, when it strives to impart to others that which through His help it can know or do. But well after saying, "She brings him good," immediately added, "And not harm," because surely there are those who, receiving good things from the Lord, repay evils, either by polluting the mysteries of faith which they received with heretical corruption, or by blaspheming the faith which they serve with false deeds; or by corrupting the good morals with which they serve with right faith through evil conduct. For neither do they return the good they received to the Lord, who do not care to persist in good beginnings until the end of the current life. Whence rightly after saying, "She brings him good, and not harm," to show the necessity of perseverance in good, it is added, "All the days of her life." Similar is the evangelical saying, "That we might serve Him in holiness and righteousness before Him, all our days" (Luke 1). By which proper duties, or by which fruits of justice or holiness, it is fitting for him to especially persist who diligently strives to repay the good he received from the Lord, it is subsequently shown when it is said:
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
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Wife — The ordinance of marriage was sanctioned in Paradise (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:4-6). Monogamy was the original law under which man lived, but polygamy early commenced (Gen. 4:19), and continued to prevail…
Writing — The art of writing must have been known in the time of the early Pharaohs. Moses is commanded “to write for a memorial in a book” (Ex. 17:14) a record of the attack of Amalek. Frequent mention is…
Wife · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Wives · Good: Are a blessing to husbands — Good: Are a blessing to husbands
Woman · Good and virtuous, described — Good and virtuous, described
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).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 31:10-31
Proverbs ends with a powerful poem celebrating the virtuous wife. The poem’s acrostic arrangement gives an impression of completeness and provides the student with an aid for learning.
31:10-12 No one can find a virtuous and capable wife without God’s help (18:22). Such a woman, like wisdom, is more precious than rubies (cp. 3:15).
Rashi on Proverbs 31:11
and he will lack no gain lit. no plunder, i.e., he will lack no good.
