Proverbs 31:15

Pro 31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

Ver. 15. She riseth also while it is yet night.] That is, Betime in the morning - "a great while before day," as our Saviour also did to pray. {Mar 1:35}

And a portion to her maids.] She neither pines nor pampers them, but allows them that which is sufficient. Three things, saith Aristotle, a man owes to his servants: work, meat, and correction, - εργα, τροφην κολασιν

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 31:15. She riseth while it is yet night — “She doth not indulge herself in too much sleep, but is an early riser, before the break of day, to make provision for those who are to go abroad to work in the fields, and to set her maidens their several tasks at home. The reader will observe that the ideas here refer to those modest and ancient times when female occupations were far different: even of the highest rank, from such as are usual in modern times.” — Dodd.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, meat, as Ps. 111:5

She prepareth their meat betime.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

She diligently attends to expending as well as gathering wealth;

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. She riseth also while it is yet night]

4. She is an economist of time; and when the nights are long, and the days short, her family not only spend a part of the evening after sunset in domestic labour, but they all arise before daylight, and prepare the day's food, that they may not have their labour interrupted. To those who are going to the fields, and to the flocks, she gives the food necessary for the day: טרף teref, prey, a term taken from hunting, the object of which was, the supplying their natural wants: hence applied to daily food. See Clarke on Pr 30:8. And to the women who are to be employed within, she gives חק chok, the task - the kind of work they are to do, the materials out of which they are to form it, and the quantity she expects from each. Thus all the servants are settled: their food, work, and tasks appointed. Every thing is done orderly.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) And giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.—Gives out food for her household, and the allotted portion of provisions (comp. Pro_30:8) or work (comp. Exo_5:14) to her maidens.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. a portion] So R.V. margin. But R.V. text, their task, the pensum, or amount of wool weighed out to each maiden for her day’s task. Comp.

“Noctem addens operi, famulasque ad lumina longo

Exercet penso.”

Virg. Æn. VIII. 411, 412.

Dean Plumptre (Speak. Comm.) compares the picture of Lucretia, Liv. i. 57: “nocte sera, deditam lanæ, inter lucubrantes ancillas in medio ædium sedentem invenerunt”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

She riseth also while it is yet night,.... That is, before the ascent of the morning, as Aben Ezra explains it, before break of day; a great while before day, as Christ is said to rise to pray, Mar 1:35; while it was yet dark; so the church here: which shows her affection for her family, her care of her children, and fervent zeal for her husband's interest and good; a different frame of spirit this from that of hers in Sol 5:2;

and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens; in allusion to a daily stated allowance (q) of food given to such; and spiritually may be meant, by her "household" or family, the same with the family of Christ, that is named of himself, which consists of various persons, fathers, young men, and children; and by her "maidens" the ministers of the word; see Pro 9:3; who are stewards in the family, and have the food for it put into their hands to dispense; it is by these the church gives meat to her household feeds them with knowledge and understanding, with the wholesome words of Christ, with the good doctrines of the Gospel; these have a certain portion given them, and they rightly cut and divide the word of truth, and give to everyone their portion of meat in due season, according to their age and circumstances; milk indeed to babes and meat to strong men; see Luk 12:42. The Targum renders the word for "portion by service": understanding not a portion of food, but of work, a task set them, and so the word is used in Exo 5:14. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "works", which may be very well applied to the work and service of the Gospel ministry, and the several parts of it.

(q) "Gauldetque diurnos, ut famulae, praebere cibos", Claudian. de Bello Gild. v. 71, 72.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A portion to her maidens - The daily task assigned to each at the same time as the daily food. Compare Pro 30:8; Exo 5:14.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Night, or early in the morning, as soon as the night was over; de nocte. Hebrew, "while it is yet night." (Haydock) --- Extreme vigilance is required of those who direct others. "The master must be first up, and last in bed." (Cato v.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

While it is yet night; early in the morning, to redeem thee.

Giveth meat; distributeth all her necessary provisions.

A portion; either,

1. Of work, which she allots to them. Or rather,

2. Of provisions for them; for so this word is used, Gen 47:22; Lev 10:13,14; Pr 30:8, and no where, to my remembrance, of an allotment of work. And so this clause agrees best with the former, expressing the same thing in other words, according to the manner.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. A portion — The allotted portion, or the assigned tasks. It is the same word as in Pro_30:8, which see.

While it is yet night — That is, before daylight. The Orientals generally rise very early in the morning. The excessive heat of the day frequently renders labour, especially out of doors, insupportable. Hence, a great deal of business is transacted, even in royal courts, at a very early hour. The women usually rise earlier than the men, often long before day, engaging busily in the preparation of their meals, and in the various manufactures for the household and for sale.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

VAV. She riseth also while it is yet night. Before dawn she is up and stirring, to be ready for her daily occupation. A lamp is always kept burning at night in Eastern houses, and as it is of very small dimensions, the careful housewife has to rise at midnight to replenish the oil, and she often then begins her household work by grinding the corn or preparing something for next day"s meals (comp. ver. 18). Early rising before any great undertaking is continually mentioned in Scripture. (see Gen_19:2 Gen_22:3 Psa_57:8 Jer_7:13 Jer_25:4, etc.; Mar 16:2Jo 20:1) And giveth meat to her household; deditquae praedam domesticis suis, Vulgate. The word for "meat" is tereph , which means "food torn in pieces" with the teeth, (Psa_111:5) and hence food to be eaten. The wife thus early prepares or distributes the food which will be wanted for the day. And a portion to her maidens. Chok, "final portion," may apply either to work or food. The Vulgate has cibaria, "meat;" Septuagint, erga , "tasks." The former, which is in accordance with Pro_30:8, would be merely a repetition of the second clause, the meat mentioned there being here called the allotted portion, and would be simply tautological. If we take it in the sense of "appointed labour," we get a new idea, very congruous with the housewife"s activity. (comp. Exo_5:14, where the same word is used in the ease of the enforced labour of the Israelites)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Giveth - Distributes all necessary provisions.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

With this diligence in her duties she is not a long sleeper, who is not awakened till the sun is up; but

15 ו She riseth up while it is yet night,

And giveth food to her house,

And the fixed portion to her maidens.

The fut. consec. express, if not a logical sequence of connection, yet a close inner binding together of the separate features of the character here described. Early, ere the morning dawns, such a housewife rises up, because she places care for her house above her own comfort; or rather, because this care is to her a satisfaction and a joy. Since now the poet means without doubt to say that she is up before the other inmates of the house, especially before the children, though not before the maids: we have not, in ותּתּן, to think that the inmates of the house, all in the morning night-watch, stand round about her, and that each receives from her a portion for the approaching day; but that she herself, early, whilst yet the most are asleep, gives out or prepares the necessary portions of food for the day (cf. ויּתּן, Isa 53:9). Regarding טרף, food, from טרף (to tear in pieces, viz., with the teeth), and regarding חק, a portion decreed, vid., at Pro 30:8. It is true that חק also means the appointed labour (pensum), and thus the day's work (דּבר יום); but the parallelism brings it nearer to explain after Pro 30:8, as is done by Gesenius and Hitzig after Exo 5:14.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

food Heb. טרף.

and an allotted share Heb. וחוק. This too is the food that is allotted to them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.