Every wise woman ¹  builds ²  her household, ³  but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

biblegateway Pro 14:1

The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

The wisest of women builds up her home, but a stupid one tears it down with her own hands.

biblegateway Pro 14:1

The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.

bibleoremus Pro 14:1

The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

Wise women build up their homes, but with their own hands the foolish pull theirs down.

biblegateway Pro 14:1

The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

biblegateway Pro 14:1

Every wise woman ¹  builds ²  her household, ³  but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

¹ tn Heb “wise ones of women.” The construct phrase חַכְמוֹת נָשִׁים (khakhmot nashim) features a wholistic genitive: “wise women.” The plural functions in a distributive sense: “every wise woman.” The contrast is between wise and foolish women (e.g., Prov 7:10-23; 31:10-31).

² tn The perfect tense verb in the first colon functions in a gnomic sense, while the imperfect tense in the second colon is a habitual imperfect.

³ tn Heb “house.” This term functions as a synecdoche of container (= house) for contents (= household, family).