Proverbs 31:1-20

¹These are sayings/messages that God gave to King Lemuel's mother, and which his mother taught him:

²You are my son; I gave birth to you RHQ; you are the son that God gave me in answer to my prayers.

³Do not exhaust your energy having sex EUP with women to whom you are not married, with women who ruin kings by having sex with them.

⁴Lemuel, kings should not be constantly drinking wine or greatly desire to drink other strong/alcoholic drinks.

⁵If they do that, they forget the laws that they have made, and they do not do what is right for poor/afflicted people.

⁶Give strong/alcoholic drinks to those who are dying and to those who are ◄greatly distressed/suffering very much►.

⁷If they drink, they will forget that they are poor, and they will not think about their distress/troubles anymore.

⁸Speak MTY to defend people who are unable to defend themselves; speak to encourage others to do what is right for those who are helpless.

⁹Speak MTY ◄on their behalf/to help them► and try to cause judges to decide matters fairly/justly; try to cause others to do for poor and needy people what should be done for them.

¹⁰It is very difficult for a man to RHQ find a wife who is good and who is capable of doing many things. Any woman who is like that is worth more than jewels.

¹¹Her husband completely trusts her, and because of her, he has everything that he needs LIT.

¹²She never does anything that would harm him; she does good things for him all the days of her life.

¹³She finds wool and flax in the market, and she enjoys spinning it to make yarn.

¹⁴She is like SIM a ship that brings from far away goods/merchandise to sell, because she buys food that comes from far away.

¹⁵She gets up before dawn to prepare food for her family. Then she plans the work that her servant girls will do on that day.

¹⁶She goes out and looks at a field that someone wants to sell; and if it is a good field, she buys it. She buys grapevines MTY with the money that she has earned, and then she plants them.

¹⁷She works very hard IDM; she makes her arms strong by the work she does.

¹⁸She knows when she is getting a good profit from her business. When it is necessary, she works MTY until it is late at night.

¹⁹She holds the ◄spindle/rod which twists the thread that she is making►, and then she spins the thread MTY that she will use.

²⁰She generously helps MTY those who are poor and needy DOU.