Proverbs 31:19
in Proverbs 31She stretches out her hands to the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
She layeth her hands to the distaff, And her hands hold the spindle.
KJV
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
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This verse in Proverbs 31
Commentary
10 notes on this verseShe layeth her hands to the spindle,.... As Penelope and her maidens did (t). Or spinning wheel, more properly, the wheel itself, which is laid hold on by the right hand, and turned round; and her hands hold the distaff; the rock, stick, or staff, about which the wool is wrapped, which is spun, and is held in the left hand; for though hands are mentioned in both clauses, yet it is only with one hand the wheel is turned, and the distaff held with the other.
This site's exposition
She is like the merchants’ ships
on Proverbs 31:14-19
She is like the merchants' ships, she bringeth her food from afar states the portrait's scope directly: this is trade reaching beyond the household, not domestic labor kept inside it. She rises while it is yet night to provide for her household and her maidens, considers a field and buys it, and plants a vineyard with the fruit of her own hands, three decisions of ownership and investment the text credits to her judgment alone. Strength girded to her loins and arms and a candle that does not go out by night complete the picture of a woman working past the hours anyone would require of her, spinning at the spindle and distaff before the poem turns outward again.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"She has also braced her arms on the spindle." About this spindle let me say what the Lord permits me to. After all, this business of spinning wool is not completely foreign to men. Listen to what it means to say, "She has braced her arms on the spindle." It could have said "on the distaff." It said spindle, not without reason, perhaps. Though you could, of course, take it, and it wouldn't be at all absurd, that the spindle seems to signify spinning, and spinning signifies the good works of a chaste woman and a busy and careful housewife. All the same I, dearly beloved, will not keep from you what I understand by this spindle.…Look at these two instruments for spinning wool, the distaff and the spindle. The wool is wrapped round the distaff and has to be drawn and spun in a thread and so pass onto the spindle. What's wrapped on the distaff is the future; what's collected by the spindle is already past. So your good work is on the spindle, not on the distaff. On the distaff is what you are going to do; on the spindle is what you have done. So see if you have anything on the spindle, that's where your arms should be braced.
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 5 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Of the valiant woman it is said: "She put her hand to strong things, and her fingers grasped the spindle." He speaks of the Church and of her members. First it is necessary to put the hand to strong things before the fingers grasp the …
She put her hand to strong things, etc. By strong things are meant the perfect works in the charity of Christ, to which the Church joyfully subjected herself in the expectation of certain heavenly reward; for example, "You have heard that it was said, You …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
She layeth - By her own example she provokes her servants to labour. And although in these latter and more delicate times, such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other countries, nor in this land; whence all women unmarried unto this day are called in the language of our law, Spinsters.
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
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
), and she does not reckon it either an abridgment of her liberty or a disparagement to her dignity, or at all inconsistent with her repose. The spindle and the distaff are here mentioned as her honour, while the ornaments of the daughters of Zion are reckoned up to their reproach, Isa. ii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
She layeth her hands to the spindle - 10. She gives an example of skill and industry to her household. She takes the distaff, that on which the wool or flax was rolled; and the spindle, that by twisting of which she twisted the thread with the right hand, while she held the distaff in the guard of the left arm, and drew down the thread with the fingers of the left hand. Allowing that spindle and distaff are proper translations of כישור kishor, and פלך pelech, this was their use, and the way in which they were used.
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָ֭דֶיהָ | yadeiha | hands her | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| שִׁלְּחָ֣ה | shilechah | she stretches out | H7971 → | 845 times |
| בַכִּישׁ֑וֹר | vakishor | on the distaff | H3601 → | |
| וְ֝כַפֶּ֗יהָ | vekhapeiha | and palms her | H3709 → | 192 times |
| תָּ֣מְכוּ | tamekhu | they grasp | H8551 → | 21 times |
| פָֽלֶךְ׃ | falekh | [the] spindle | H6418 → |
יָ֭דֶיהָhands her
yadeihaH3027 →1618 times
שִׁלְּחָ֣הshe stretches out
shilechahH7971 →845 times
בַכִּישׁ֑וֹרon the distaff
vakishorH3601 →
וְ֝כַפֶּ֗יהָand palms her
vekhapeihaH3709 →192 times
תָּ֣מְכוּthey grasp
tamekhuH8551 →21 times
פָֽלֶךְ׃[the] spindle
falekhH6418 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 37:13; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 5; 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.