Proverbs 31:13
in Proverbs 31She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
She seeketh wool and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.
KJV
She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
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This verse in Proverbs 31
Commentary
15 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Worketh willingly with her hands - Or, worketh with willing hands. The stress laid upon the industrial habits of Israelite matrons may perhaps belong to a time when, as under the monarchy of Judah, those habits were passing away.
This site's exposition
Who can find a virtuous woman
on Proverbs 31:10-13
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies opens the poem the mother has been building toward, and the Hebrew text is an alphabet acrostic, twenty two verses for the twenty two letters, a structural fact the bench states rather than a coincidence of style. Her husband's heart safely trusts her, and she does him good and not evil all the days of her life, the poem's frame before a single deed is listed. The first labor named is textile work, seeking wool and flax and working willingly with her hands, willingly repeating the same idea the poem returns to, a heart that works rather than merely obeys.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The sacred text describes this housewife as a weaver of woolens and linen. But what we want to find out is what wool represents and what linen does. I think wool means something of the flesh, linen something of the spirit. I hazard this conjecture from the order we wear our clothes in; our underclothes or inner garments are linen, our outer garments woolen. Now everything we do in flesh is public, whatever we do in the spirit is private. Now to act in the flesh and not to act in spirit may seem good but is in fact worthless, whereas to act in spirit and not act in the flesh is downright laziness.
The sacred word describes that woman as working in wool and linen. Perhaps you will ask us what the wool and linen are. The wool signifies something carnal; the linen, what is spiritual. This interpretation is given because in the order of clothing inner garments …
The Medieval Church3 voices
"She seeks wool and flax," etc. The beginning of this verse, the strong woman, that is the holy Church, customarily takes and observes even according to the letter; according to the prophetic saying, "When you see the naked, cover him, and do not hide yourself …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
There is a threefold operation, namely to discern rightly, to choose well, and to pursue readily. Therefore it says: 'She has worked by the counsel of her hands.' She not only decreed and chose, but carried it through. It does not suffice to have a …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The Holy Spirit here describes the gift of counsel with respect to the preliminary act, and this with respect to the intrinsic act and the extrinsic act, and with respect to the proper act. The first and second are noted when it says: 'She sought …
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
'She sought wool and flax.' Wool is that from which coarse garment is made; flax is that from which fine garment is made. From wool is made a warm garment, from flax a delicate garment. Likewise, from wool is made an outer garment, while from …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 5 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
"Who shall find a valiant woman?" Without doubt it was said in commendation of mother Church, and specially in commendation of the glorious Virgin. In which word she is commended for three things: first, for the strengthening of spiritual fortitude; second, for the fruitfulness of …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. 6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
), and with this she does not only set the poor on work, which is a very good office, but does herself work, and work willingly, with her hands; she works with the counsel or delight of her hands (so the word is); she goes about it cheerfully and dexterously, lays not only her hand, but her mind to it, and goes on in it without weariness in well-doing.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Not that it is the duty of kings and queens to use manual operations, but it is the duty of all persons, the greatest not excepted, to improve all their talents, and particularly their time, which is one of the noblest of them, to the service of that God to whom they must give an account, and to the good of that community to which they are related.
She seeketh wool and flax,.... To get them, in order to spin them, and work them up into garments; she stays not till they are brought to her, and she is pressed to take them; but she seeks after them, which shows her willingness to work, as is after more fully expressed.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
In Hebrew the verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order (compare Introduction to Poetical Books). Who . . . woman--The question implies that such are rare, though not entirely wanting (compare Pr 18:22; 19:14). virtuous--literally, "of strength," that is, moral courage (compare Pr 12:4;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
She seeketh wood and flax, and worketh willingly, etc. - II. This is the second part of her character, giving the particulars of which it is composed. 1. She did not buy ready woven cloth: she procured the raw material, if wool, most probably from her own flocks; if flax, most probably from her own fields. 2. Here she manufactured; for she worketh willingly with her hands. And all her labor is a cheerful service; her will, her heart, is in it. It needs no arguments to prove that women, even of the highest ranks, among the Greeks, Romans, and Israelites, worked with their hands at every kind of occupation necessary for the support of the family. This kind of employment was not peculiar to the virtuous woman in the text.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
[14] She is like the merchant ships The Torah brings those who study it blessing and sustenance.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| דָּ֭רְשָׁה | dareshah | she seeks | H1875 → | |
| צֶ֣מֶר | tzemer | wool | H6785 → | |
| וּפִשְׁתִּ֑ים | ufishtim | and flax<es> | H6593 → | |
| וַ֝תַּ֗עַשׂ | vataas | and she worked | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בְּחֵ֣פֶץ | bechefetz | in [the] delight of | H2656 → | 39 times |
| כַּפֶּֽיהָ׃ | kapeiha | hands her | H3709 → | 192 times |
דָּ֭רְשָׁהshe seeks
dareshahH1875 →
צֶ֣מֶרwool
tzemerH6785 →
וּפִשְׁתִּ֑יםand flax<es>
ufishtimH6593 →
וַ֝תַּ֗עַשׂand she worked
vataasH6213 →2628 times
בְּחֵ֣פֶץin [the] delight of
bechefetzH2656 →39 times
כַּפֶּֽיהָ׃hands her
kapeihaH3709 →192 times
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
Titus 2:5to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.
it leads to
- Proverbs 31:10–31
A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies.
- Colossians 3:18
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- 1 Peter 3:1–5
Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives
- 1 Timothy 5:13–14
At the same time they will also learn to be idle, going from house to house and being not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, discussing things they should not mention.
- 1 Timothy 5:10
and well known for good deeds such as bringing up children, entertaining strangers, washing the feet of the saints, imparting relief to the afflicted, and devoting herself to every good work.
- Proverbs 31:10–31
Through
1 Timothy 5:10and well known for good deeds such as bringing up children, entertaining strangers, washing the feet of the saints, imparting relief to the afflicted, and devoting herself to every good work.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 6:18
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share,
- Titus 3:8
This saying is trustworthy. And I want you to emphasize these things, so that those who have believed God will take care to devote themselves to good deeds. These things are excellent and profitable…
- Acts 9:36
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.
- 1 Timothy 6:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 37:6; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 5; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 139:2; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.