Bible Strands
Proverbs 31:26
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A third-person portrait of a wife within the Proverbs 31:10–31 poem, likely composed by or for a husband; the moment is descriptive, not instructional.
The words — חֶסֶד (chesed, H2617) is rendered "faithful" in the BSB but carries the full weight of covenant loyalty; the verse says her tongue bears not mere wisdom but wisdom bound by covenant obligation.
The thread — Proverbs 10:31 ties the righteous mouth to wisdom's output; Proverbs 16:24 adds the healing quality of well-chosen words; Ephesians 4:29 narrows the standard to speech that builds up the one in need.
Why it lands — The verse holds two demands together that are often separated: correctness (wisdom) and commitment (chesed), asking the reader to test whether their speech is both true and loyal or only one of the two.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
Cross-references
- Ephesians 4:29 Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
- Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
- Proverbs 10:31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out.
- Proverbs 12:18 Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- Colossians 4:5 Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.
- 1 Peter 3:4 but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
- Proverbs 31:8 Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.
- Malachi 2:6 True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.
- 1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.
- Judges 13:23 But his wife replied, “If the LORD had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.”