to taste · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
merchandise
סַחְרָ֑הּsach.Rah
H5504
profit (from trade) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
good
ט֣וֹבTov
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
candle
נֵרָֽהּne.Rah
H5216
a lamp (i.e. the burner) or light (literally or figurat… · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
out
יִכְבֶּ֖הyikh.Beh
H3518
to expire or (causatively) to extinguish (fire · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
night
בַלַּ֣יְלָהva.la.yil
H3915
properly · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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 Thessalonians 2:9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preac…
Matthew 25:3-10 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Genesis 31:40 Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.
Psalms 127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
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…
To energy she adds a watchfulness in bargains, and a protracted and painful industry. The last clause may figuratively denote that her prosperity (compare Pro 24:20) is not short lived.
John Gill on Proverbs 31:18
She perceiveth that her merchandise is good,.... That it turns to good account; that her trading to heaven is of great advantage; that she grows rich hereby; that her merchandise with Wisdom, or Christ, is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereby than fine gold; and though her voyages are attended with trouble and danger, yet are profitable, and therefore she is not discouraged, but determined to pursue them; she is like the merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who finds a pearl of great price, worth all his trouble; See Gill on Proverbs 31:14 and see Proverbs 3:14;
her candle goeth not out by night; or "lamp" (s); her lamp of profession, which is always kept burning, Luk…
18 ט She perceiveth that her gain is good;
And her light goeth not out at night.
The perf. and fut. are related to each other as antecedent and consequent, so that 18a can also be rendered as an hypothetical antecedent. She comes to find (taste) how profitable her industry is by the experience resulting from the sale of its product: the corn, the grapes, and the wine are found to be good, and thus her gain (cf. Pro 3:14) is better, this opened new source of nourishment productive.
This spurs on her active industry to redoubled effort, and at times, when she is not fully occupied by the oversight of her fields and vineyard, she has another employment over which her light goes not out till far…
The Church Fathers
She tasted and saw that her trading was good, etc. What he says, "Her trading," surely refers to that field which he mentioned above: "She considered a field and bought it." Therefore, the holy Church tasted, a perfect soul tasted, that is, recognized from the innermost desire of the mind, that the trading of everlasting life is good, which we merit in heaven by forsaking temporal allurements. She tasted, that is, she clearly learned that it is good through the insistence of preaching to lead as many as possible into the way of truth. And therefore, the lamp of her devotion cannot be extinguished by any darkness of tribulations, nor even by death itself. For their lamp is extinguished in the night, even though it seems to burn by day, who, as the Lord says: "For a while believe, and in a time of temptation fall away" (Luke VIII); but even their lamp is extinguished at midnight who, when the judge comes, are found to have no oil of charity in the vases of their hearts, while, having lost the boast of false virtues, they undergo the torments of real darkness. But if we wish to interpret night here as rest, as is said above, "She rose from the night," that is, she prepared herself to work after rest, it is aptly said that the lamp of the holy Church is not extinguished in the night because even when she rests from the business of action, she is more freely devoted to the light of heavenly contemplation. While she ceases from public works, she takes care to more ardently dedicate herself either to the hearing of sacred readings or divine praise: like the example of the industrious woman who not only tends to necessary labors by day but also often at night, by the light of the burning lamp, takes equal care of the household.
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…
Commerce · Increased the wealth of nations and individuals — Increased the wealth of nations and individuals
Economics · HOUSEHOLD — HOUSEHOLD
Industry · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Lamps · Often kept lighting all night — Often kept lighting all night
Night · The Jews: Often kept lamps burning during — The Jews: Often kept lamps burning during
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).
