Proverbs 31:26

She opens her mouth ¹  with wisdom, and loving instruction ²  is on her tongue.

Ge 24:18-20; Jud 13:23; 1Sa 25:24-31; 2Sa 20:16-22; 2Ki 22:15-20; Es 4:4; Es 5:8; Es 7:3-6; Es 8:3-6; Pr 12:18; Pr 16:24; Pr 25:15; Pr 31:8,9; So 2:14; So 4:11; Mal 2:6; Lu 1:38,42-56; Ac 6:15; Ac 18:26; Eph 4:29; Col 4:5; 1Pe 3:1,4,5,8,9

¹ tn The first word of the seventeenth line begins with פּ (pe), the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

sn The words “mouth” (“opens her mouth”) and “tongue” (“on her tongue”) here are also metonymies of cause, referring to her speaking.

² tn The Hebrew phrase תּוֹרַת־חֶסֶד (torat-khesed) is open to different interpretations. (1) The word “law” could here refer to “teaching” as it does frequently in the book of Proverbs, and the word “love,” which means “loyal, covenant love,” could have the emphasis on faithfulness, yielding the idea of “faithful teaching” to parallel “wisdom” (cf. NIV). (2) The word “love” should probably have more of the emphasis on its basic meaning of “loyal love, lovingkindness.” It also would be an attributive genitive, but its force would be that of “loving instruction” or “teaching with kindness.”