What Does Proverbs 31:23 Mean?
Her husband is known in the gates, when he settles among the elders of the land.
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
Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.THE KEY
His recognition among the elders is placed inside her portrait, making their household part of the public honor.
THE MEANING
You are seeing a household’s life reach beyond its doors: the husband is recognized where the elders gather, within the same portrait that names her strength and work. His standing is visible in the shared life of the community.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that work within a household has no public consequence loosens here: her work and his recognized standing belong to one portrait.
THE ROOT
נוֹדָע
nôdaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
Know or perceive through encounter.
“known” in this verse is nôdaʿ. The word carries more than a passing reputation: the root ידע (yādaʿ, know or perceive) can describe knowing through encounter. Here, that knowing is visible among the elders, where the community recognizes him.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: To know or perceive through encounter.
יָדַע
The same root opens “known” to recognition grounded in real acquaintance.
daʿat: Knowledge or understanding.
דַּעַת
This branch shows knowing as something that can take shape as understanding, not merely as a label.
hôdîaʿ: To cause someone or something to be known.
הוֹדִיעַ
The root can also describe bringing recognition into view, fitting the public setting of the gates.
שְּׁעָרִים
sheʿarim
GROWS FROM
שער
Gate or entrance.
The gates are more than a backdrop: they are a threshold into shared public life. A gate and its keeper grow from the same root, placing this recognition where people meet and assess one another.
ALSO GROWS
shaʿar: An entrance or gate.
שַׁעַר
The singular branch makes the gates a threshold where public recognition can happen.
shoʿēr: A person who guards or serves at a gate.
שׁוֹעֵר
The gatekeeper branch underscores that a gate is a point of passage into a community’s shared space.
THE PATTERN
Public standing becomes visible in shared spaces where a community gathers and recognizes one another.
Give her from the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.Then Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken came by, and Boaz said to him, Ho, such a one! Turn aside, sit here. And he turned aside and sat there.Let your light shine like this before people, that they may perceive your good works and give weight to your Father in the heavens.THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Moses, I will do this word also that you have spoken, for you have found favor in my eyes, and I have known you by name.Both verses use ידע (yādaʿ, know or perceive). Exodus speaks of being known by name; Proverbs places knowing among the elders, connecting public recognition with seeing a person as more than a passing reputation.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us