Proverbs Chapter 12 verse 4 Holy Bible
A worthy woman is the crown of her husband; But she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
read chapter 12 in ASV
A woman of virtue is a crown to her husband; but she whose behaviour is a cause of shame is like a wasting disease in his bones.
read chapter 12 in BBE
A woman of worth is a crown to her husband; but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
read chapter 12 in DARBY
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
read chapter 12 in KJV
read chapter 12 in WBT
A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, But a disgraceful wife is as rottenness in his bones.
read chapter 12 in WEB
A virtuous woman `is' a crown to her husband, And as rottenness in his bones `is' one causing shame.
read chapter 12 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - A virtuous woman; one whose portrait is beautifully traced in ch. 31. The term is applied to Ruth (Ruth 3:11). The Vulgate renders, diligens; Septuagint, ἀνδρεία. The expression means one of power either in mind or body, or both. The same idea is contained in ἀρετὴ and virtus. Such a woman is not simply loving and modest and loyal, but is a crown to her husband; is an honour to him, adorns and beautifies his life, making, as it were, a joyous festival. So St. Paul (1 Thessalonians 2:19) calls his converts "a crown of glorying." The allusion is to the crown worn by the bridegroom at his marriage, or to the garlands worn at feasts (comp. Song of Solomon 3:11; Isaiah 61:10; Wisd. 2:8). The Son of Sirach has much praise for the virtuous woman: "Blessed is the man that hath a good (ἀγαθῆς) wife, for the number of his days shall be double. A virtuous (ἀνδρεία) woman rejoiceth her husband, and he shall fulfil the years of his life in peace" (Ecclus. 26:1, 2). She that maketh ashamed; "that doeth shamefully" (Proverbs 10:5; Proverbs 19:26); one who is a terrible contrast to the woman of strong character - weak, indolent, immodest, wasteful. Is as rottenness in his bones (Proverbs 14:30; Habakkuk 3:16). Such a wife poisons her husband's life, deprives him of strength and vigour; though she is made "bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh" (Genesis 2:23), far from being a helpmate for him, she saps his very existence. Septuagint, "As a worm in a tree, so an evil woman destroyeth a man." Here again Siracides has much to say, "A wicked woman abateth the courage, maketh an heavy countenance and a wounded heart: a woman that will not comfort her husband in distress maketh weak hands and feeble knees" (Ecclus. 25:23). Thus runs a Spanish maxim (Kelly, 'Proverbs of All Nations') - "Him that has a good wife no evil in lifethat may not be borne can befall;Him that has a bad wife no good thing in lifethat chance to, that good you may call."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) A virtuous woman.--Literally, of power, i.e., of ability and character, like the wife described in Proverbs 31, or the "able" men of Exodus 18:21.
