What Does Proverbs 31:21 Mean?
She does not fear for her house in the snow, for all her house is clothed in scarlet.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.THE KEY
The snow is real, but it does not find her household uncovered.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now of a household already clothed for the season that comes. Its confidence rests in their covered condition, not in winter’s absence. The hard weather does not disappear, but it does not meet them unprotected.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A hard season does not necessarily mean the people in your care are exposed to it.
THE ROOT
לָבֻשׁ
lavush
GROWS FROM
לבש
To put on clothing; to clothe.
The Hebrew word pictures the household as wearing its covering, not merely hoping winter will pass them by. The snow remains, while the condition of those inside the house has changed: they are clothed.
ALSO GROWS
labash: To put on or clothe.
לָבַשׁ
The verb makes clothing an act that changes how a person meets the conditions around them.
levush: Garment or clothing.
לְבוּשׁ
This noun names the covering worn; it shows the shared root holding both the act of clothing and what is worn.
malbush: Garment or attire.
מַלְבּוּשׁ
This related word keeps the same idea of a covering carried on the body, making the household’s protection tangible.
THE PATTERN
A season’s threat meets a different household when its people are already clothed.
And the LORD God made tunics of skin for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.I will exult greatly in the LORD; my living soul shall leap in my God; for he has clothed me in garments of deliverance, he has wrapped me in the robe of alignment, as a bridegroom dons a headdress, and as a bride binds on her jewels.So if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, you who lean your weight on him so little?THE THREAD
And the LORD God made tunics of skin for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.The Hebrew verb translated “clothed” here comes from לבש (labash), the same root used when God “clothed” Adam and his wife. In both verses, the covering is concrete: it changes what exposure means for the people within the household.
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