Proverbs 31:26 - Exposition

PE . She openeth her mouth with wisdom. She is not merely a good housewife, attending diligently to material interests; she guides her family with words of wisdom. When she speaks, it is not gossip, or slander, or idle talk, that she utters, but sentences of prudence and sound sense, such as may minister grace to the hearers. The Septuagint has this verse before Proverbs 31:25 , and the first hemistich Again. after Proverbs 31:27 . So in Lamentations 2:1-22 , Lamentations 3:1-66 , Lamentations 4:1-22 , the pe and ayin vetoes change places. This is also the case in Psalms 37:1-40 . In the former passage the LXX : renders, "She openeth her mouth heedfully and lawfully ( προεχόντως καὶ ἐννόμως );" and in the other, "wisely and in accordance with law ( σοφῶς καὶ νομοθέσμως )." In her tongue is the law of kindness ( thorath chesed ); i.e. her language to those around her is animated and regulated by love. As mistress of a family, she has to teach and direct her dependents, and she performs this duty with gracious kindness and ready sympathy. Septuagint, "She places order on her tongue."