What Does Proverbs 31:20 Mean in the King James?

She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

Proverbs 31:20 · 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

Her hands are described as sent outward: generosity is the release of what she holds into the life of someone in need.

THE MEANING

Care becomes visible as she opens her palm to the poor and sends her hands toward the needy. What she holds moves outward as real provision.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that compassion can remain only an inward feeling; here, care reaches the person in need through an offered hand.

THE ROOT

שִׁלְּחָה

shilleḥah

GROWS FROM

שלח

The three-consonant root ⁨שָׁלַח⁩ (shalach) means to send or send forth, and carries the sense of releasing or letting go.

“reacheth forth” in this verse is shilleḥah. The Hebrew says her hands are sent forth. This root makes generosity a movement of release: what is held in the hand goes outward toward the person in need.

ALSO GROWS

shalach: To send, send forth, release, or let go.

שָׁלַח

This verb names the motion of her hands: they go outward from her toward the needy.

mishloaḥ yad: The sending forth or extension of a hand.

מִשְׁלוֹחַ יָד

This same-root phrase makes explicit the image in the verse: a hand extended outward is a sending of what one holds.

THE PATTERN

Compassion crosses the distance to need through an opened hand and provision released.

But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

Deuteronomy 15:8 · KJVThe hand opens wide so that another person’s need is met with material provision.

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:

Isaiah 58:10 · KJVCare moves toward the hungry and gives them what satisfies their need.

But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1 John 3:17 · KJVLove is shown in whether what one has remains closed away or moves toward a person in need.

THE THREAD

Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Exodus 9:1 · KJV

The command translated “Let my people go” uses ⁨שַׁלַּח⁩ (shallach), the same root as the hands she sends forth here. In Proverbs, that movement of release becomes provision moving toward the needy.

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