Proverbs 31 (Verses 10–12)
King James Version
The opening lines of the acrostic poem on the virtuous woman that closes the Book of Proverbs.
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About this text
These three verses open the closing poem of Proverbs, an acrostic in the original Hebrew — each of its twenty-two verses begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a structure impossible to preserve in English translation. The poem describes a capable, resourceful woman managing a household, and verses 10-12 set up the praise that the rest of the acrostic goes on to detail.
Even without the Hebrew acrostic, the English carries a clear rhetorical shape: a rhetorical question ("Who can find...") answered by a statement of worth, followed by two verses describing the effect of that worth on the people around her. It's a compact example of how a short passage can still have a beginning, a turn, and a conclusion.
What to watch for
- 1 exclamation or question mark: ask the child how the sentence should sound when read aloud, and why the writer chose that mark.
- Old-fashioned words: doth. These are easy to "correct" by accident into modern spelling, so copy them exactly as written.
- Longest word: "virtuous" (8 letters). Try spelling it aloud once before reaching it.
- 3 lines averaging about 15 words each. A comfortable line length for a single sitting.
Full text (reference)
10Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
12She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.