Pro 12:4 | KD | STEP | We now place together -12. One proverb concerning the house-wife forms the beginning of this group, and four regarding the management of the house and business form the conclusion. 4 A good brave wife is the crown of her husband, But as rottenness in his bones is one that causeth shame. As says of אושׁת חן, the pleasant wife (חן = χάρις), that she obtaineth honour, so this proverb of אושׁת חיל, the good wife (חיל = ἀρετή, virtus ), that she raises her husband to higher honour: she is for his self-consciousness στέφανος καυχήσεως ( ), and is also to him such a crown of honour before the world (cf. ). On the contrary, a מבישׁה, conducting herself shamefully (cf. regarding the double meaning of this Mishle word, which only here occurs in the fem., at ), is to her husband instar cariei in ossibus . רקב (רקב, ) denotes both the caries and the worm-hole (cf. , עץ רקּבון, worm-eaten wood). Like as the caries slowly but continuously increases, till at last the part of the body which the bone bears and the whole life of the man falls to ruin; so an unhappy marriage gnaws at the marrow of life, it destroys the happiness of life, disturbs the pursuit, undermines the life of the husband.

‏ Proverbs 12:4

We now place together Pro 12:4-12. One proverb concerning the house-wife forms the beginning of this group, and four regarding the management of the house and business form the conclusion. 4 A good brave wife is the crown of her husband, But as rottenness in his bones is one that causeth shame.

As Pro 11:16 says of אושׁת חן, the pleasant wife (חן = χάρις), that she obtaineth honour, so this proverb of אושׁת חיל, the good wife (חיל = ἀρετή, virtus), that she raises her husband to higher honour: she is for his self-consciousness στέφανος καυχήσεως (1Th 2:19), and is also to him such a crown of honour before the world (cf. Pro 31:23). On the contrary, a מבישׁה, conducting herself shamefully (cf. regarding the double meaning of this Mishle word, which only here occurs in the fem., at Pro 10:5), is to her husband instar cariei in ossibus. רקב (רקב, Pro 10:7) denotes both the caries and the worm-hole (cf. Job 41:19, עץ רקּבון, worm-eaten wood). Like as the caries slowly but continuously increases, till at last the part of the body which the bone bears and the whole life of the man falls to ruin; so an unhappy marriage gnaws at the marrow of life, it destroys the happiness of life, disturbs the pursuit, undermines the life of the husband.