Proverbs 30:23
in Proverbs 30an unloved woman who marries, and a maidservant who supplants her mistress.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For an odious woman when she is married; And a handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
KJV
For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
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This verse in Proverbs 30
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Odious woman - One in whom there is nothing loveable. Marriage, which to most women is the state in which they find scope for their highest qualities, becomes to her only a sphere in which to make herself and others miserable.
This site's exposition
Under three things the earth trembles
on Proverbs 30:21-23
The third numerical saying names disturbances of the social order: "a servant who becomes king," and "a maidservant who supplants her mistress." Each is a reversal of the place a person is fitted for, prosperity or power arriving without the character to carry it.
This site's exposition
an unloved woman who marries
Albert Barnes calls her a woman with nothing lovable in her. Marriage, which gives most women scope for their best qualities, becomes for her a sphere for making herself and others miserable. The maidservant who supplants her mistress completes the four.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Hippolytus of RomeFragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture · Written before 235.
proposed
"And a handmaid when she casts out her mistress: "i.e., the synagogue which took the life of the Lord, and crucified the flesh of Christ.
A commentator
Hippolytus of RomeFragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture · Written before 235.
proposed
The shaking (of the earth) signifies the change of things upon earth.-Sin, then, which in its own nature is a slave, has reigned in the mortal body of men: once, indeed, at the time of the flood; and again in the time of the Sodomites, who, not satisfied with what the land yielded, offered violence to strangers; and a third time in the case of hateful Egypt, which, though it obtained in Joseph a man who distributed food to all, that they might not perish of famine, yet did not take well with his prosperity, but persecuted the children of Israel.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For an odious woman, when she is married,....
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תַּ֣חַת | tachat | under | H8478 → | 505 times |
| שְׂ֭נוּאָה | senuah | a hated [woman] | H8130 → | 146 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תִבָּעֵ֑ל | tibael | she will be married | H1166 → | |
| וְ֝שִׁפְחָ֗ה | veshifchah | and a female servant | H8198 → | |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תִירַ֥שׁ | tirash | she will dispossess | H3423 → | 231 times |
| גְּבִרְתָּֽהּ׃ פ | gevirtah | mistress her | H1404 → |
תַּ֣חַתunder
tachatH8478 →505 times
שְׂ֭נוּאָהa hated [woman]
senuahH8130 →146 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
תִבָּעֵ֑לshe will be married
tibaelH1166 →
וְ֝שִׁפְחָ֗הand a female servant
veshifchahH8198 →
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
תִירַ֥שׁshe will dispossess
tirashH3423 →231 times
גְּבִרְתָּֽהּ׃ פmistress her
gevirtahH1404 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 21:19Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.
it leads to
- Proverbs 21:9
Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 55:6–7
I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find rest.
- Proverbs 21:9
Through
Proverbs 21:9Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
it leads to
- Proverbs 21:19
Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 25:24
Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 19:13
A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 27:15–16
A constant dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike—
- Proverbs 12:4
A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but she who causes shame is like decay in his bones.
- Proverbs 21:19
Through
Proverbs 19:13A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.
it leads to
- Proverbs 27:15
A constant dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike—
- Proverbs 27:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Hippolytus of Rome, Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).