Ecclesiasticus 26: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter collects sayings about wives and women: the good wife who doubles her husband's days and gladdens him, the evil wife who is like a shaking yoke, the shameless daughter who is to be watched closely, and a set of comparisons for the beauty and worth of a good wife. Between these run two short numbered lists, of things the writer's heart fears and of things that grieve him, and a word to a son about keeping his strength and sowing his own seed. The chapter closes with a line about merchants and traders and sin.

Claim by Claim

1. 26:1
   • A man who has a good wife is blessed.
   • The number of the days of a man who has a good wife will be doubled.
2. 26:2
   • A capable woman makes her husband glad.
   • The husband of such a woman will complete the years of his life in peace.
3. 26:3
   • A good wife is a good portion.
   • A good wife is given as a portion to those who fear the Lord.
4. 26:4
   • A man's heart being good toward the Lord matters whether he is rich or poor.
   • Such a man will rejoice at all times.
   • Such a man will have a cheerful face at all times.
5. 26:5
   • The speaker's heart fears three things.
   • The speaker was greatly afraid of a fourth thing.
   • The first is the slander of a city.
   • The second is the gathering together of an unruly crowd.
   • The third is a false accusation.
   • All of these are worse than death.
6. 26:6
   • A woman who is jealous over another woman is a grief of heart and a sorrow.
   • A scourge of the tongue that speaks to everyone is a grief of heart and a sorrow.
7. 26:7
   • An evil wife is a yoke that shakes back and forth.
   • The man who takes hold of an evil wife is like one who grasps a scorpion.
8. 26:8
   • A drunken woman causes great anger.
   • A woman who wanders abroad causes great anger.
   • Such a woman will not cover her own shame.
9. 26:9
   • A woman's whoredom can be recognized by her lifted-up eyes.
   • A woman's whoredom can be recognized by her eyelids.
10. 26:10
    • A shameless daughter should be kept under strict guard.
    • The reason for strict guard is lest she take advantage of too much freedom.
11. 26:11
    • Guard against a shameless eye.
    • Do not be surprised if she sins against you.
12. 26:12
    • She will open her mouth like a thirsty traveler who has found a spring.
    • She will drink from every water near her.
    • She will sit down beside every hedge.
    • She will open her quiver to every arrow.
13. 26:13
    • The grace of a wife delights her husband.
    • Her skill puts fat on his bones.
14. 26:14
    • A silent and loving woman is a gift of the Lord.
    • Nothing is worth as much as a well-instructed mind.
15. 26:15
    • A modest and faithful woman is a double grace.
    • Her self-controlled mind cannot be weighed against any price.
16. 26:16
    • The sun rising in the heights of the Lord is a comparison.
    • The beauty of a good wife is like that sun, in the ordering of her house.
17. 26:17
    • A lamp shining on a holy lampstand is a comparison.
    • The beauty of a face is like that lamp, upon a stature of settled age.
18. 26:18
    • Golden pillars set on silver bases are a comparison.
    • Beautiful feet on firm heels are like those pillars.
19. 26:19
    • The speaker addresses his son.
    • The son is told to keep the flower of his youth sound.
    • The son is told not to give his strength to strangers.
20. 26:20
    • When a fruitful field has been found through all the plain, sow it with your own seed.
    • Sow it trusting in the goodness of your own stock.
21. 26:21
    • The offspring you leave behind will be magnified.
    • Your offspring will have confidence in their good descent.
22. 26:22
    • A hired woman will be reckoned as spit.
    • A married woman is a tower against death to her husband.
23. 26:23
    • A wicked woman is given as a portion to a lawless man.
    • A godly woman is given to the man who fears the Lord.
24. 26:24
    • A dishonorable woman despises shame.
    • An honorable woman will reverence her husband.
25. 26:25
    • A shameless woman will be counted as a dog.
    • The woman who has shame will fear the Lord.
26. 26:26
    • A woman who honors her husband will be judged wise by everyone.
    • A woman who dishonors her husband in her pride will be counted ungodly by everyone.
27. 26:27
    • A loud-voiced and scolding woman will be sought out to drive away enemies.
28. 26:28
    • Two things grieve the speaker's heart.
    • A third thing makes the speaker angry.
    • The first is a man of war who suffers poverty.
    • The second is men of understanding who are treated as of no account.
    • The third is one who turns back from righteousness to sin.
    • The Lord prepares such a one for the sword.
29. 26:29
    • A merchant will hardly keep himself from wrongdoing.
    • A retail dealer will not be freed from sin.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

26:1

"Blessed" in older English means fortunate or happy, a statement about someone's good situation rather than a blessing spoken over him. The whole chapter is a string of separate proverbs, spoken by a male teacher to a young male student, which is why the wife is always described from the husband's side and never the reverse.

26:2

"Virtuous" here does not mean chaste or morally pure in the narrow modern sense. The Greek word carries the idea of courage and capability, the same picture as the strong household manager of Proverbs 31.

26:3

A "portion" was the share of land or goods assigned to a person, either as an inheritance or as a division of spoils. The proverb treats a good wife as part of what a man is allotted in life rather than as something he earns.

26:5

"Three things ... and for the fourth" is a standard form in ancient wisdom writing: a list is announced at one number and then capped at the next, so the last item lands with the most weight. The same device appears at verse 28. The "slander of a city" is ambiguous in the Greek and can mean gossip running through a whole town about one person or an accusation leveled against a city. An "unruly multitude" is a mob or riot, and a false accusation in a court that could impose death was not a figure of speech.

26:6

A "scourge" was a whip, often knotted or weighted, used for punishment. The image is of a tongue that lashes, and "communicateth with all" means it carries the story to everyone.

26:7

A yoke was the wooden beam laid across the necks of a pair of oxen. If it was badly fitted, or if the two animals pulled unevenly, it rocked and rubbed the neck raw. The proverb pictures a burden that will not sit still.

26:8

A respectable woman's movements outside the household were closely limited in this society, so "a gadder abroad", a woman who goes out and about, is being named as a scandal in itself, not simply as restlessness.

26:9

Eyes were painted with dark powder, and the lifting and lowering of the painted lids was recognized flirtation. The proverb claims the signs are legible on the face.

26:10

In the writer's time, a father was expected to watch over his daughter closely until she married.

26:11

A bold eye means a look that is not shy. She does not care what other people think.

26:12

A quiver is the case a soldier or hunter wore to hold arrows. Every image in this verse is a sexual euphemism: drinking from any water, sitting down beside roadside hedges where travelers pass, and opening the quiver to receive any arrow at all.

26:13

"Fatten his bones" is an idiom of health and vigor, not of weight. In a world where food could be scarce, fat stood for strength and prosperity, and dry or wasted bones stood for misery.

26:14

"Silent" translates a word closer to quiet or not quarrelsome than to literally speechless. It is the opposite of the scolding woman of verse 27.

26:15

"Shamefaced" in 1611 meant modest or reserved, with no suggestion of embarrassment or disgrace; the modern word "shamefaced" has shifted since. "Grace" here means charm or attractiveness, and "continent" means self-controlled, especially in sexual matters.

26:17

The "holy candlestick" is the lampstand that stood inside the temple, a seven branched stand of gold holding oil lamps that were kept burning. It held no candles. "Ripe age" means maturity, so the comparison is about beauty that belongs to later years.

26:18

This borrows the furnishings of the wilderness tabernacle described in Exodus, where the upright posts were overlaid with gold and set into heavy silver bases. The point of comparison is a fine thing standing on a solid footing.

26:19

"The flower of thine age" is the prime of youth, and "thy strength" is a discreet term for a man's sexual vigor and the children it could produce. "Strangers" means women outside his own household. Verses 19 to 27 are missing from the oldest Greek manuscripts of this book and survive in a longer text tradition; the King James translators included them, and some modern editions print them separately or omit them.

26:20

The field and the seed are a standard ancient image for the wife and the husband's children. "Thy stock" means his own family line, so the advice is to father children within marriage and rely on the quality of his own descent.

26:22

Spit was the everyday example of something worthless, fit only to be thrown away. A "tower" was the fortified strong point of a town's defenses, the place people retreated into when attacked.

26:24

"Dishonest" and "honest" in 1611 refer to honor and chastity rather than to truth telling: a dishonest woman is one who has lost her good name, an honest one is one who keeps it. "Contemneth" means despises or thinks nothing of.

26:25

Dogs in this world were scavengers around towns and rubbish heaps, not pets. To call a person a dog was among the harshest insults available.

26:26

Godless means not caring about God at all.

26:27

A "scold" was a woman with a loud, quarrelsome tongue, a recognized social type in older English. The line is sarcastic: her voice is fit for one use only, being sent out to frighten off an approaching army.

26:28

A "man of war" is a soldier or veteran, and the complaint is that a man who fought is left destitute. "Not set by" means not valued or taken seriously. "Prepareth such an one for the sword" is deliberately open in the Greek and can mean either that God hands the man over to violent death or that he is being readied for it.

26:29

A "huckster" was a small retailer or peddler who bought goods to sell on at a profit. Ancient writers commonly distrusted the trade because the profit came from the gap between what was paid and what was charged, and because weights and measures were easy to manipulate.