--- title: "Proverbs 31 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary" description: "Read Proverbs 31 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. 2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? 3 Give no" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31" --- [ Read](/kjv/proverbs/31)[ Commentary](/study/proverbs/31)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/proverbs/31) Audio 1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. 2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? 3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. 4 *It is* not for kings, O Lemuel, *it is* not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.** 6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.* 7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. 8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.* 9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. 10 ¶ Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price *is* far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. 13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. 14 She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. 15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. 16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.* 17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. 18 She perceiveth that her merchandise *is* good: her candle goeth not out by night.* 19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. 20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.* 21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household *are* clothed with scarlet.* 22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing *is* silk and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. 24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth *it;* and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. 25 Strength and honour *are* her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. 26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue *is* the law of kindness. 27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband *also*, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.* 30 Favour *is* deceitful, and beauty *is* vain: *but* a woman *that* feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. [Proverbs 30](/study/proverbs/30) [Ecclesiastes 1](/study/ecclesiastes/1) ## Commentary To verse 1 Verse [Proverbs 31:1](/kjv/proverbs/31/1). ***The words of King Lemuel*** — דברי למואל מכך *dibrey lemuel* *melech*, "The words to Muel the king." So the *Syriac*; and so I think it should be read, the *lamed* being the article or *preposition*. But who is *Muel* or *Lemuel*? *Solomon*, according to general opinion; and the *mother* here mentioned, *Bath-sheba*. I cannot receive these sayings; for 1. Whoever this was, he appears to have been the *first-born* of his mother: called here emphatically בר בטני *bar bitni*, the *son of my womb*; which is not likely to be true of Solomon, as his mother had been the wife of Uriah, and possibly had borne that rough and faithful soldier some children. 2. It is intimated here that this son had come by a *lawful* *marriage*: hence בר נדרי *bar nedarai*, the *son of my vow*, her *matrimonial covenant*; for so it is most natural to understand the words. But is there any proper sense in which we can say that this was correct in reference to *David, Bath-sheba*, and *Solomon*? For although the son born in adultery died, it is by no means likely that Bath-sheba made any particular *vows* relative to *Solomon*; for of her piety, so much vaunted of by some writers, we yet want the proofs. But, however this may be, there is no evidence whatever that *Muel* or *Lemuel* means *Solomon*; the chapter seems, to be much later than his time, and the several *Chaldaisms* which occur in the very opening of it are no mean proof of this. If *Agur* was not the author of it, it may be considered as another *supplement* to the book of Proverbs. Most certainly Solomon did not write it. ***The prophecy that his mother taught him.*** — משא *massa* may here signify the *oracle*; the subject that came by *Divine inspiration*; see on [Proverbs 30:1](/kjv/proverbs/30/1). From this and some other circumstances it is probable that *both* these *chapters* were written by the *same author.* *Houbigant* thinks that *Massa* here is the name of a *place*; and, therefore, translates, "The words of Lemuel, king of Massa, with which his mother instructed him." ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31","name":"Proverbs 31 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Proverbs 31 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. 2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? 3 Give no","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","name":"clarkes commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs","name":"Proverbs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/proverbs/31","name":"31"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```