One member of the alphabetic poem of praise, Proverbs 31:10–31: a hymn, not a checklist.
Quick answer
She belts on strength like work clothes and makes her arms strong. The poem praises physical vigor in a woman with the vocabulary usually spent on soldiers.
Read the whole unit
The book closes with a 22-verse acrostic, one verse for each Hebrew letter, aleph to tav, the way love makes lists, so that when the alphabet runs out you know nothing was left unsaid. The poem stands immediately after a mother's counsel to a king (31:1–9). Whether or not the mother is also the poem's speaker, its placement trains the reader, men included, to recognize and praise wisdom embodied in a woman.
Its subject is an eshet chayil, a woman of strength, capability, and valor. Chayil is a broad Hebrew word for strength, capability, resources, and standing, frequently used of warriors and capable people, and the poem inventories her formidable agency: commerce, agriculture, management, generosity, foresight, teaching, and laughter at the future. Its climax states the governing center: a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised (v. 30). Praised, not scored. This is a hymn of honor, not a weekly job description, and every member entry carries that frame, because the checklist misreading is this poem's one great occupational hazard.
What this verse contributes
This verse contributes the body. "Girds herself" is the ancient posture of readiness, the belt cinched before labor or battle, and here what she straps on is strength itself. The poem has praised her judgment and enterprise; this letter honors the physical engine underneath, arms made strong by use, capability maintained on purpose. It is the frame word chayil made visible: valor with muscle tone. The acrostic sees no tension between this and anything else it praises; the same woman who considers fields and speaks wisdom (v. 26) is honored for the plain bodily strength her days require, and the honoring itself is the point.
Related: Proverbs 31:25 · 1 Timothy 4:8
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.