What Does Proverbs 31:16 Mean in the King James?

She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

Proverbs 31:16 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

She devises a plan, takes the field, and turns the fruit of her own hands into a vineyard, wisdom here creates lasting growth.

THE MEANING

Wisdom moves through a whole cycle: you form a plan, acquire ground, and use the yield of your hands to establish a vineyard. Your work does not end with what it produces today; it becomes the beginning of something that can keep bearing fruit.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Wisdom is only inward insight, separate from practical decisions about property, labor, and future growth.

THE ROOT

זָמְמָה

zāmemāh

GROWS FROM

זמם

z-m-m

To plan, devise, or plot.

The word translated “considereth” carries the sense of forming a plan or design. The field begins as something conceived, then becomes ground where her labor can grow into more.

ALSO GROWS

zāmam: To devise, plan, or plot.

זָמַם

This verb shows that her consideration is an active intention that precedes the purchase.

mezimmāh: A plan, purpose, or scheme.

מְזִמָּה

This noun preserves the root’s sense of a thought taking shape as a design.

נָטְעָה

nāṭʿāh

GROWS FROM

נטע

n-ṭ-ʿ

To plant or set something into the ground.

“planteth” in this verse is nāṭʿāh. The same planting root describes the vineyard she establishes and the act of putting something into the ground so it can grow. Her hands do more than produce a yield: they set that yield into the ground as the start of future fruit.

ALSO GROWS

nāṭaʿ: To plant or set in the ground.

נָטַע

This is the verb’s basic action: establishing something where it can take root and grow.

maṭṭāʿ: A planting or plantation.

מַטָּע

This noun names what results from planting: ground made productive through what has been set into it.

THE PATTERN

Wisdom puts what is in hand to work so it can yield beyond the present moment.

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

Ecclesiastes 11:6 · KJVPresent effort becomes a seed whose full yield cannot be known in advance.

Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

Matthew 25:16 · KJVWhat is entrusted is put to work and grows beyond what was first received.

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

Proverbs 14:1 · KJVWisdom turns the work of the hands toward building something that endures.

THE THREAD

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Genesis 2:8 · KJV

The same Hebrew root, ⁨נטע⁩ (nāṭaʿ, “to plant or set in the ground”), describes the garden and the vineyard. Both begin as deliberate planting: something is set into the ground so it can grow and bear fruit.

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