Proverbs 31:30

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty [is] vain, etc.] A well favoured look, a graceful countenance, symmetry and proportion of parts, natural or artificial beauty, are vain and deceitful; oftentimes under them lies an ill natured, deformed, and depraved mind; nor is the pleasure and satisfaction enjoyed as is promised along with these; and particularly how do they fadef969 and consume away by a fit of illness, and through old age, and at last by death? And so vain and deceitful are the favour and beauty, the artificial paintings, of Jezebel, that whore of Rome; all her meretricious deckings, dressings, and ornaments; her gaudy pomp and show in her worship, and the places of it; see…”

“Favour--or, "Grace" of personal manner. beauty--of face, or form (compare Pro 11:22). True piety alone commands permanent respect and affection (Pe1 3:3).”

“The last lesson of the book is the same as the first. The fear of the Lord is the condition of all womanly, as well as of all manly, excellence. return to 'Top of Page' Footnotes: Copyright Statement These files are public domain. Bibliographical Information Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Proverbs 31". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/proverbs-31.html. 1870. StudyLight.org © 2001-2026 Powered by Lightspeed Technology”

“Favour - Comeliness, which commonly gives women favour with those who behold them. Deceitful - It gives a false representation of the person, being often a cover to a deformed soul; it does not give a man that satisfaction, which at first he promised to himself from it; and it is soon lost, not only by death, but by many diseases and contingencies. Proverbs 31:31”

“31:30-31 The book concludes where it began, by affirming the ultimate importance of the fear of the Lord (see 1:7). A woman’s character is more important than her physical beauty.”

“Favour: Pro 6:25, Pro 11:22; Sa2 14:25; Est 1:11, Est 1:12; Eze 16:15; Jam 1:11; Pe1 1:24 a woman: Pro 1:7, Pro 8:13; Exo 1:17-21; Psa 147:11; Luk 1:6, Luk 1:46-50; Pe1 3:4, Pe1 3:5 she: Ecc 7:18, Ecc 12:13; Rom 2:29; Co1 4:5; Pe1 1:7, Pe1 3:4 Proverbs 31:31”

“What now follows is not a continuation of the husband's words of praise (Ewald, Elster, Lwenstein), but an epiphonema auctoris (Schultens); the poet confirms the praise of the husband by referring it to the general ground of its reason: 30 ש Grace is deceit; and beauty, vanity - A wife that feareth Jahve, she shall be praised. Grace is deceit, because he who estimates the works of a wife merely by the loveliness of her external appearance, is deceived by it; and beauty is vanity, vanitas, because it is nothing that remains, nothing that is real, but is subject to the law of all material things - transitoriness. The true value of a wife is measured only by that which is enduring, according to…”