31:28 Her children rise up 1 and call her blessed,
her husband 2 also praises her:
31:17 She begins 3 her work vigorously,
and she strengthens 4 her arms.
1 tn The first word of the nineteenth line begins with ק (qof), the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
sn The deliberate action of “rising up” to call her blessed is the Hebrew way of indicating something important is about to be done that has to be prepared for.
2 tn The text uses an independent nominative absolute to draw attention to her husband: “her husband, and he praises her.” Prominent as he is, her husband speaks in glowing terms of his noble wife.
3 tn The first word of the eighth line begins with ח (khet), the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
tn Heb “she girds her loins with strength.” The idea is that of gathering up the long robes with a sash or belt so that they do not get in the way of the work. The point of the figure is readiness for work. But to say she girds herself with “strength” means that she begins vigorously. “Strength” here would be a comparison with the sash.
4 sn The expression “she makes her arm strong” parallels the first half of the verse and indicates that she gets down to her work with vigor and strength. There may be some indication here of “rolling up the sleeves” to ready the arms for the task, but that is not clear.