She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
This portrait of virtue is not idle poetry; it teaches both women what they must become and men what they must seek. Mark how much hangs on the mothers, the piety and prosperity of entire households, the faith of generations to come. A man who means to prosper must reckon with his wife; her wisdom and goodness are the foundation.
AI summary
Commenting on Proverbs 31:10-31
She is like the merchant ships,.... Not like a single one, but like a navy of them, that cross the seas, go to foreign parts, and come back laden with rich goods: so the church of Christ, and her true members, like ships of burden, trade to heaven, by prayer and other religious exercises, and return with the riches of grace and mercy, to help...
Pro 31:14 The following proverb praises the extent of her housewifely transactions: 14 ה She is like the ships of the merchant - Bringeth her food from afar. She is (lxx ἐγένετο) like merchant ships (כּאניות, indeterminate, and thus to be read kōǒnı̂joth), i.e., she has the art of such ships as sail away and bring wares from a distance, are equipped, sent out, and...