What Does Proverbs 31:26 Mean?
She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the instruction of faithful love is on her tongue.
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 openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.THE KEY
Her tongue carries a way of faithful love, so kindness is the instruction her wisdom gives.
THE MEANING
Wisdom opens the mouth, and faithful love gives the tongue its instruction. Kindness here is durable care, not merely a pleasant tone; it is love taking shape in speech.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that kindness is only a soft tone: here it is faithful love with a formed instruction, carried in speech.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
ח־ס־ד
Faithful, loyal love expressed as care.
The Hebrew word rendered “kindness” carries the sense of steady, faithful love. The tongue is not just pleasant; it expresses a care that can be relied on.
ALSO GROWS
chasid: A faithful or loyal person.
חָסִיד
The related word describes a person by the quality of loyalty, showing how chesed can mark a nature as well as an act.
chasadim: Deeds or expressions of faithful love.
חֲסָדִים
The plural gives faithful love many expressions, making the tongue’s kindness something lived out in words.
תּוֹרַת
torat
GROWS FROM
י־ר־ה
To direct, teach, or point the way.
The phrase is literally an instruction of chesed: faithful love has a direction that can be taught. English “law” can sound like a rule imposed from outside, while the Hebrew also carries the sense of guidance that shapes how the tongue speaks.
ALSO GROWS
yarah: To teach or direct.
יָרָה
This verbal branch makes the tongue’s kindness active guidance, not just a gentle sound.
moreh: A teacher or instructor.
מוֹרֶה
The related word for a teacher shows how speech can pass on the way of faithful love.
THE PATTERN
Speech becomes wise care when faithful guidance shapes what the mouth releases.
The mouth of the aligned one murmurs wisdom, and his tongue speaks judgment.Pleasant words are like a dripping honeycomb, sweet to the living soul and healing to the bones.Let your word always be in favor, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you must answer each one.THE THREAD
Do not let faithful love and truth let go of you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.The Hebrew word translated “mercy” here is chesed, the same word rendered “kindness” in Proverbs 31:26. In this verse chesed is written on the heart; there, it takes form as instruction on the tongue.
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