The chapter opens not with a proverb from Solomon but with the words of king Lemuel, an oracle his mother taught him. She speaks first to a son who holds power, warning him against wasting his strength on women and against drinking wine that could cloud his judgment and pervert justice. Her instruction is blunt: a king must not forget the law or fail the afflicted. She tells him to give strong drink instead to the perishing and the bitter, so they may forget their misery, and to open his mouth for the dumb and judge righteously for the poor and needy.
Then the mother shifts her focus. She asks a question that has echoed through generations: a worthy woman, who can find? Her price, she says, is far above rubies. This is not a sentimental ideal but a practical portrait drawn in concrete actions. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he has no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.
She works with her hands willingly, seeking wool and flax. She is like merchant ships bringing food from afar. She rises while it is still night to give food to her household and assign tasks to her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. There is no idleness in her, no waiting for opportunity to arrive. She makes it.
She girls her loins with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable, and her lamp does not go out by night. She lays her hands to the distaff and holds the spindle. The work is physical, sustained, and deliberate. She does not stop when the sun goes down.
She stretches out her hand to the poor and reaches forth her hands to the needy. Her industry does not make her hard; it makes her able to give. She is not afraid of the snow for her household because all of them are clothed with scarlet. She makes carpets of tapestry for herself and wears fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates, sitting among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers girdles to the merchant. Her work does not stay inside the house; it reaches the marketplace and earns a reputation. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She does not fear the future because she has prepared for it.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband praises her, saying that many daughters have done worthily but she excels them all.
The mother closes with a sharp verdict: grace is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised. The final instruction is to give her the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates. The chapter does not name this woman or give her a story. It gives her a pattern of action, and leaves the reader to measure the worth of such a life by what it produces, not by what it claims.