A Virtuous Woman Praised

By H. Rondel Rumburg

Written in 1987 revised in 2013
Based on Proverbs 31:10-31 and dedicated to Barbara

A virtuous woman, “who can find?”
A value above rubies of rarest kind;
Her spouse’s trust is not in vain;
Her management provides family gain.

Her activities do her husband good not evil all her days.
Willingly she busies her hands in manifold ways.
Thriftily she finds her family food from a distant place.
Her delight is to provide for her family with grace.

Wisely she contemplates and purchases land.
Then plants a vineyard with her own hand.
She prepares herself for her manifold tasks,
And in wisdom she seeks to minimize risks.

Her hands are active to acquire, but not with greed.
A hand she reaches without regret to those in need.
She remembers – at home charity doth begin,
And her tasks she performs again and again.

She thus grants her husband freedom so he may rule.
A manufacturer of fine linen she doth produce without flaw for ridicule.
Clothed in strength and honor her future is without blight,
And from her cometh wisdom and kindness with no space for spite.

Her household’s economy she overlooks with concern,
And eats not the bread of idleness as all may discern.
Her children rise up and call her “blessed,”
And praise from her husband is lovingly confess’ed.

This virtuous woman excels all others to compare,
When favor and beauty may only contribute to despair.
She who “Feareth the LORD” great praise shall find,
And she is known in the gates as one of a kind.