Proverbs 14:1

Every wise woman ¹  builds ²  her household, ³  but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

A wise woman builds her house; a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands.

Lady Wisdom builds a lovely home; Sir Fool comes along and tears it down brick by brick.

Wisdom is building her house, but the foolish woman is pulling it down with her hands.

The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

Every wise woman ¹  builds ²  her household, ³  but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

¹ tn Heb “wise ones of women.” The construct phrase חַכְמוֹת נָשִׁים (khakhmot nashim) features a wholistic genitive: “wise women.” The plural functions in a distributive sense: “every wise woman.” The contrast is between wise and foolish women (e.g., Prov 7:10-23; 31:10-31).

² tn The perfect tense verb in the first colon functions in a gnomic sense, while the imperfect tense in the second colon is a habitual imperfect.

³ tn Heb “house.” This term functions as a synecdoche of container (= house) for contents (= household, family).