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She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
Proverbs 31:13 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB She seeks wool and flax, and works eagerly with her hands.
  • KJV She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
  • NKJV She seeks wool and flax, And willingly works with her hands.
  • NASB She looks for wool and linen, And works with her hands in delight.
  • NLT She finds wool and flax and busily spins it.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

She gathers wool and flax and works willingly and skillfully with her hands.

Overview

The worthy woman is industrious, taking up productive labor with eager diligence rather than reluctance. Her cheerful work ethic honors the dignity God gives to ordinary labor. Such glad diligence reflects the wisdom that delights to serve, a disposition cultivated in those whose hearts are renewed by grace.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • 1 Tim 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.
  • 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.
  • 2 Th 3:10–12For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”
  • Acts 9:39–40So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
  • Ruth 2:2–3And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go into the fields and glean heads of grain after someone in whose sight I may find favor.” “Go ahead, my daughter,” Naomi replied.
  • Isa 3:16–24The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
  • Ruth 2:23So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean grain until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
  • Gen 24:18–20“Drink, my lord,” she replied, and she quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave him a drink.
  • Gen 18:6–8So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”
  • Gen 29:9–10While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
  • Gen 24:13–14Here I am, standing beside the spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.
  • Isa 32:9–11Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Give ear to my word, you overconfident daughters.
  • 1 Tim 5:14So I advise the younger widows to marry, have children, and manage their households, denying the adversary occasion for slander.
  • 1 Th 4:11and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.
  • Exod 2:16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 31:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.

How Proverbs 31:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.