If you get a group of woman talking about Prov 31 Woman you will, without a doubt, hear the cry that “I cannot match that perfect woman.”  “I fall short of perfection no matter how hard I try.”  Ladies!  Ladies!  The Scriptures do not use that word at all.  Over the years Christian woman have bought what the world has to say, what our culture has to say about the role and actions of a woman instead of believing what the Word says.  The world says that we are the weaker sex with a less important role.  The world has taught us that being feminine is being weak and dainty.  What does the Word say about women, about the role of a wife?

Prov 31:10  An excellent wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above jewels.

The word excellent is translated into many other words, in our English Bibles:

Able, capable,
Army (82 times!)/armies, elite army, forces, troops, warriors,
Excellent/excellence, worthy,
Great, might/mighty, nobly, power, strength, strong, very powerful,
Valiant (41 times), valiantly, valour (18 times)
Retinue,
Riches, wealth (25 times), substance,

At no time has this verse ever been translated to read “Who can find a perfect wife?”  Never.

My first port of call when I am trying to understand a word that is used in Scripture is to use the Strong’s Concordance, where the word is connected with the original meanings of the original language that the text was written in.

When I looked to see the Hebrew origins to this word, excellent, I found that “strength” was the first meaning listed.  Strength.  Read verse 10 again using the word strength/strong…

A strong wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above jewels.

Strongs 2428 (listing the words that are close to the Hebrew meaning)
strength, might, efficiency, wealth, army
1. strength
2. ability, efficiency
3. wealth
4. force, army

What about ability – able…

An able wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above jewels. 

An efficient wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above jewels.

A mighty wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above jewels.

Who does not want to be found strong and able?  Forget the perfect there is a much better standard, a real one, an attainable one and one that we train ourselves in.  I say train because the Hebrew word also uses an indication of military – the army trains to get its edge, I can train, you can train to get your edge too.   I for one want to be a strong, mighty, efficient, able wife!  Want to join me?