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Ode to a Capable Wife

¹⁰ A capable wife who can find?
   She is far more precious than jewels.
¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her,
   and he will have no lack of gain.
¹² She does him good, and not harm,
   all the days of her life.
¹³ She seeks wool and flax,
   and works with willing hands.
¹⁴ She is like the ships of the merchant,
   she brings her food from far away.
¹⁵ She rises while it is still night
   and provides food for her household
   and tasks for her servant-girls.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
   with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She girds herself with strength,
   and makes her arms strong.
¹⁸ She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
   Her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ She puts her hands to the distaff,
   and her hands hold the spindle.
²⁰ She opens her hand to the poor,
   and reaches out her hands to the needy.
²¹ She is not afraid for her household when it snows,
   for all her household are clothed in crimson.
²² She makes herself coverings;
   her clothing is fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is known in the city gates,
   taking his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them;
   she supplies the merchant with sashes.
²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing,
   and she laughs at the time to come.
²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom,
   and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷ She looks well to the ways of her household,
   and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children rise up and call her happy;
   her husband too, and he praises her:
²⁹ ‘Many women have done excellently,
   but you surpass them all.’
³⁰ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
   but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,
   and let her works praise her in the city gates.

Life as the Ungodly See It

¹⁶ But the ungodly by their words and deeds summoned death;^*
considering him a friend, they pined away
and made a covenant with him,
because they are fit to belong to his company.

2For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
‘Short and sorrowful is our life,
and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
and no one has been known to return from Hades.
¹² ‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training.
¹³ He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child^* of the Lord.
¹⁴ He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;
¹⁵ the very sight of him is a burden to us,
because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange.
¹⁶ We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father.
¹⁷ Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;
¹⁸ for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
¹⁹ Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
²⁰ Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.’

Error of the Wicked

²¹ Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them,
²² and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;

Jeremiah’s Life Threatened

¹⁸ It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
   then you showed me their evil deeds.
¹⁹ But I was like a gentle lamb
   led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
   that they devised schemes, saying,
‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
   let us cut him off from the land of the living,
   so that his name will no longer be remembered!’
²⁰ But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
   who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
   for to you I have committed my cause.