Translation choice · documented · Feminine
What the source reads — eshet chayil — 'a woman of chayil': strength, valour, might. It is a war-word — the same one that makes a man a 'mighty man of valour' (Gideon, Judges 6:12). The Greek keeps her valiant (andreia), the Vulgate strong (mulierem fortem), Diodati 'donna di valore'
What this version reads — 'a virtuous woman' — the KJV and the Riveduta ('virtuosa') soften her strength into virtue, which in English reads as chastity: the woman of valour becomes the woman of modesty
Chayil is a war-word — strength, valour, an army. For a man it gives 'mighty man of valour' (Gideon), 'valiant' (David), 'might'. For the woman of Proverbs 31 — and Ruth (3:11), and Proverbs 12:4 — the Greek still keeps her valiant, the Latin strong, Diodati 'of valour'; only the English line renders it 'virtuous', a word that in English carries chastity, not force. Same word: valour for him, virtue for her — her power quietly swapped for her propriety.
Read this chapter side by side — Proverbs 31:10 →