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Contemporary English Version

Proverbs 31:30

Charm can be deceiving, and beauty fades away, but a woman who honors the Lord deserves to be praised.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Beauty;   Economics;   Fear of God;   Poetry;   Vanity;   Wife;   Women;   Thompson Chain Reference - Beauty;   Beauty-Disfigurement;   Virtues;   Wise;   Woman;   Women;   The Topic Concordance - Deception;   Fear;   Praise;   Vanity;   Virtue;   Women;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Industry;   Vanity;   Woman;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Lemuel;   Letters;   Proverb, the Book of;   Woman;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Wife;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Beauty;   Boasting;   Praise;   Woman;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Poetry;   Wife;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Education;   Lemuel;   Marriage;   Tamar (2);   Holman Bible Dictionary - Acrostic;   Charm;   Praise;   Proverbs, Book of;   Wisdom and Wise Men;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   Ethics;   Grace;   Marriage;   Massa;   Song of Songs;   Trade and Commerce;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Face;   Home (2);   Parents (2);   Sirach;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Poetry;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Mother;   Writing;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Favor;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Acrostics;   Monogamy;   Poetry;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting,but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
Hebrew Names Version
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
King James Version
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord , she shall be praised.
English Standard Version
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
New American Standard Bible
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
New Century Version
Charm can fool you, and beauty can trick you, but a woman who respects the Lord should be praised.
Amplified Bible
Charm and grace are deceptive, and [superficial] beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD [reverently worshiping, obeying, serving, and trusting Him with awe-filled respect], she shall be praised.
World English Bible
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; But a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Fauour is deceitfull, and beautie is vanitie: but a woman that feareth the Lorde, she shall be praysed.
Legacy Standard Bible
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,But a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.
Berean Standard Bible
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Complete Jewish Bible
ש Charm can lie, beauty can vanish, but a woman who fears Adonai should be praised.
Darby Translation
Gracefulness is deceitful and beauty is vain; a woman [that] feareth Jehovah, she shall be praised.
Easy-to-Read Version
Grace and beauty can fool you, but a woman who respects the Lord should be praised.
George Lamsa Translation
Comeliness is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman who reverences the LORD shall be praised.
Good News Translation
Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the Lord should be praised.
Lexham English Bible
Charm is deceit and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears Yahweh shall be praised.
Literal Translation
Grace may be deceitful, and beauty vain, but a woman who fears Jehovah, she shall be praised.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
As for fauor, it is disceatfull, and beutie is a vayne thinge: but a woman that feareth the LORDE, she is worthy to be praysed.
American Standard Version
Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; But a woman that feareth Jehovah, she shall be praised.
Bible in Basic English
Fair looks are a deceit, and a beautiful form is of no value; but a woman who has the fear of the Lord is to be praised.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
King James Version (1611)
Fauour is deceitfull, and beautie is vaine: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shalbe praised.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
As for fauour it is deceiptfull, & beautie is a vayne thyng: but a woman that feareth the Lorde, shalbe praysed.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Charms are false, and woman’s beauty is vain: for it is a wise woman that is blessed, and let her praise the fear the Lord.
English Revised Version
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Fairnesse is disseiuable grace, and veyn; thilke womman, that dredith the Lord, schal be preisid.
Update Bible Version
Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; [But] a woman that fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.
Webster's Bible Translation
Favor [is] deceitful, and beauty [is] vain: [but] a woman [that] feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
New English Translation
Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
New King James Version
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
New Living Translation
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
New Life Bible
Pleasing ways lie and beauty comes to nothing, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
New Revised Standard
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Deceitful is loveliness and vain is beauty, The woman that revereth Yahweh, she, shall be praised:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Revised Standard Version
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Young's Literal Translation
The grace [is] false, and the beauty [is] vain, A woman fearing Jehovah, she may boast herself.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

Contextual Overview

10 A truly good wife is the most precious treasure a man can find! 11 Her husband depends on her, and she never lets him down. 12 She is good to him every day of her life, 13 and with her own hands she gladly makes clothes. 14 She is like a sailing ship that brings food from across the sea. 15 She gets up before daylight to prepare food for her family and for her servants. 16 She knows how to buy land and how to plant a vineyard, 17 and she always works hard. 18 She knows when to buy or sell, and she stays busy until late at night. 19 She spins her own cloth,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Favour: Proverbs 6:25, Proverbs 11:22, 2 Samuel 14:25, Esther 1:11, Esther 1:12, Ezekiel 16:15, James 1:11, 1 Peter 1:24

a woman: Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 8:13, Exodus 1:17-21, Psalms 147:11, Luke 1:6, Luke 1:46-50, 1 Peter 3:4, 1 Peter 3:5

she: Ecclesiastes 7:18, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Romans 2:29, 1 Corinthians 4:5, 1 Peter 1:7, 1 Peter 3:4

Reciprocal: Genesis 29:17 - beautiful Deuteronomy 21:11 - desire 1 Samuel 16:7 - Look not 1 Samuel 25:3 - good 1 Samuel 25:39 - to take her 2 Samuel 11:2 - very beautiful 2 Samuel 13:1 - a fair sister 1 Kings 4:32 - he spake Proverbs 11:16 - gracious Acts 9:39 - and showing

Cross-References

Genesis 31:1
Jacob heard that Laban's sons were complaining, "Jacob is now a rich man, and he got everything he owns from our father."
Genesis 31:2
Jacob also noticed that Laban was not as friendly as he had been before.
Genesis 31:6
You know that I have worked hard for your father
Genesis 31:19
Before Rachel left, she stole the household idols while Laban was out shearing his sheep.
Exodus 12:12
That same night I will pass through Egypt and kill the first-born son in every family and the first-born male of all animals. I am the Lord , and I will punish the gods of Egypt.
Judges 6:31
The crowd pushed closer and closer, but Joash replied, "Are you trying to take revenge for Baal? Are you trying to rescue Baal? If you are, you will be the ones who are put to death, and it will happen before another day dawns. If Baal really is a god, let him take his own revenge on someone who tears down his altar."
Judges 18:24
Micah answered, "You know what's wrong. You stole the gods I made, and you took my priest. I don't have anything left."
2 Samuel 5:21
David and his troops also carried away the idols that the Philistines had left behind.
Isaiah 37:19
They destroyed the idols of wood and stone that the people of those nations had made and worshiped.
Jeremiah 10:11
You told me to say that idols did not create the heavens and the earth, and that you, the Lord , will destroy every idol.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Favour is deceitful, and beauty [is] vain,.... A well favoured look, a graceful countenance, symmetry and proportion of parts, natural or artificial beauty, are vain and deceitful; oftentimes under them lies an ill natured, deformed, and depraved mind; nor is the pleasure and satisfaction enjoyed as is promised along with these; and particularly how do they fade e and consume away by a fit of illness, and through old age, and at last by death? And so vain and deceitful are the favour and beauty, the artificial paintings, of Jezebel, that whore of Rome; all her meretricious deckings, dressings, and ornaments; her gaudy pomp and show in her worship, and the places of it; see

Revelation 17:4. Jarchi interprets this of the grandeur and glory of the kings of the nations;

[but] a woman [that] feareth the Lord, she shall be praised; any single individual, man or woman, that fears the Lord; or a collective body of them, a society consisting of such persons, as the true church of Christ does; who have the grace of fear in their hearts, which is the beginning of wisdom, and includes the whole of religious worship, internal and external, private and public: such are taken notice of and highly valued by the Lord; his eye is upon them; his hand communicates to them much grace; and many benefits are bestowed upon them here, and great honour is conferred upon them, and great goodness is laid up for them.

e "Forma bonum fragile est", Ovid. de Arte Amandi, l. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The last lesson of the book is the same as the first. The fear of the Lord is the condition of all womanly, as well as of all manly, excellence.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 31:30. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain, c.

III. Here is the summing up of the character.

1. Favour, חן chen, grace of manner may be deceitful, many a fair appearance of this kind is put on, assumed for certain secular or more unworthy purposes it is learned by painful drilling in polished seminaries, and, being the effect of mere physical discipline, it continues while the restraint lasts; but it is שקר sheker, a lie, a mere semblance, an outward varnish. It is not the effect of internal moral regulation; it is an outside, at which the inside murmurs; and which, because not ingenuous, is a burden to itself.

2. Beauty, היפי haiyophi, elegance of shape, symmetry of features, dignity of mien, and beauty of countenance, are all הבל hebel, vanity; sickness impairs them, suffering deranges them, and death destroys them.

3. "But a woman that feareth the Lord," that possesses true religion, has that grace that harmonizes the soul, that purifies and refines all the tempers and passions, and that ornament of beauty, a meek and quiet mind, which in the sight of God is of great price-

She shall be praised. — This is the lasting grace, the unfading beauty.


 
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