Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, December 30th, 2025
the Tuesday after Christmas
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Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

Proverbs 30:23

For a hated one when she rules, || And a maidservant when she succeeds her mistress.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Family;   Riddle;   Servant;   Wife;   Women;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Proverb, the Book of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Agur;   Jakeh;   Massa;   Proverb;   Proverbs, Book of;   Slave, Slavery;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Handmaid;   Heir;   Mistress;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
an unloved woman when she marries,and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.
Hebrew Names Version
For an unloved woman when she is married; And a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.
King James Version
For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
English Standard Version
an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.
New American Standard Bible
Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband, And a female servant when she dispossesses her mistress.
New Century Version
a hated woman who gets married, and a maid who replaces her mistress.
Amplified Bible
Under an unloved woman when she gets married, And under a maidservant when she supplants her mistress.
World English Bible
For an unloved woman when she is married; And a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For the hatefull woman, when she is married, & for a handmaid that is heire to her mistres.
Legacy Standard Bible
Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband,And a servant‑girl when she supplants her mistress.
Berean Standard Bible
an unloved woman who marries, and a maidservant who supplants her mistress.
Contemporary English Version
a hateful woman who finds a husband, and a slave who takes the place of the woman who owns her.
Complete Jewish Bible
a hated [wife] when her husband takes her [back], and a slave-girl who inherits from her mistress.
Darby Translation
under an odious [woman] when she is married, and a handmaid when she is heir to her mistress.
Easy-to-Read Version
a woman whose husband hated her but still married her, and a servant girl who becomes ruler over the woman she serves.
George Lamsa Translation
Under an odious woman when she is married; and under a maidservant who ousts her mistress.
Good News Translation
a hateful woman who gets married, and a servant woman who takes the place of her mistress.
Lexham English Bible
under an unloved woman when she gets married, and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.
Literal Translation
under a hated one when she is married, under a slave-girl when she is heir to her mistress.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
thorow an ydle houswife, & thorow an handmayden yt is heyre to hir mastres.
American Standard Version
For an odious woman when she is married; And a handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
Bible in Basic English
A hated woman when she is married; and a servant-girl who takes the place of her master's wife.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For an odious woman when she is married; and a handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
King James Version (1611)
For an odious woman when shee is married, and an handmayd that is heire to her mistresse.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A spiteful woman when she is maried, and an handmayde that is heire to her maistresse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He that reproves a man’s ways shall have more favour than he that flatters with the tongue.
English Revised Version
For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
bi an hateful womman, whanne sche is takun in matrymonye; and bi an handmaide, whanne sche is eir of hir ladi.
Update Bible Version
For an odious woman when she is married; And a female slave when she takes the place of her mistress.
Webster's Bible Translation
For an odious [woman] when she is married; and a handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
New English Translation
under an unloved woman who is married, and under a female servant who dispossesses her mistress.
New King James Version
A hateful woman when she is married, And a maidservant who succeeds her mistress.
New Living Translation
a bitter woman who finally gets a husband, a servant girl who supplants her mistress.
New Life Bible
under a woman who is not loved when she gets a husband, and under a woman servant when she takes the place of the woman of the house.
New Revised Standard
an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Under a hateful woman, when she is married, and a handmaid when she driveth out her mistress.
Douay-Rheims Bible
By an odious woman when she is married: and by a bondwoman when she is heir to her mistress.
Revised Standard Version
an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.
Young's Literal Translation
For a hated one when she ruleth, And a maid-servant when she succeedeth her mistress.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband, And a maidservant when she supplants her mistress.

Contextual Overview

18Three things have been too wonderful for me, || Indeed, four that I have not known: 19The way of the eagle in the heavens, || The way of a serpent on a rock, || The way of a ship in the heart of the sea, || And the way of a man in youth. 20So—the way of an adulterous woman, || She has eaten and has wiped her mouth, || And has said, "I have not done iniquity." 21For three things has earth been troubled, || And for four—it is not able to bear: 22For a servant when he reigns, || And a fool when he is satisfied with bread, 23For a hated one when she rules, || And a maidservant when she succeeds her mistress.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

an odious: Proverbs 19:13, Proverbs 21:9, Proverbs 21:19, Proverbs 27:15

an handmaid: Proverbs 29:21

Reciprocal: Genesis 15:3 - born Genesis 16:4 - her mistress

Cross-References

Genesis 29:31
And YHWH sees that Leah [is] the hated one, and He opens her womb, and Rachel [is] barren;
Genesis 30:5
and Bilhah conceives, and bears a son to Jacob,
Genesis 30:6
and Rachel says, "God has decided for me, and has also listened to my voice, and gives a son to me"; therefore she has called his name Dan.
Isaiah 4:1
And seven women have taken hold on one man, || In that day, saying, "We eat our own bread, || And we put on our own raiment, || Only, let your name be called over us, || Remove our reproach."
Luke 1:21
And the people were waiting for Zacharias, and wondering at his lingering in the temple,
Luke 1:25
"Thus the LORD has done to me, in days in which He looked on [me], to take away my reproach among men."
Luke 1:27
to a virgin, betrothed to a man, whose name [is] Joseph, of the house of David, and the name of the virgin [is] Mary.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For an odious [woman], when she is married,.... Odious for her person, her ugliness, and the deformity of her body; or rather for the ill qualities of her mind, which, while single, she endeavours to conceal, but, being married, hides them no longer; but becomes imperious, proud, scornful, and malicious, and behaves in an ill natured way to her husband and all about her, to such a degree, that there is no bearing the place where she is;

and an handmaid, that is heir to her mistress; that has got so much into her affections that she leaves all she has to her when she dies, which makes her insufferably proud and vain; or she marries her master after the death of her mistress, and so coming into her place enjoys all she had, but only her wisdom and humility; which being wanting, she behaves in such a manner as to make the whole family uneasy. This might be exemplified in the case of Hagar, the bondmaid of Sarah, a type of those that are under the law of works, and seek the inheritance by it; and who trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despise others, Genesis 16:4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Odious woman - One in whom there is nothing loveable. Marriage, which to most women is the state in which they find scope for their highest qualities, becomes to her only a sphere in which to make herself and others miserable.


 
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