July 31, 2025 • 10 mins
Transcript
Today's Bible Translation
Bible translation used in today's episode: Ch. 31 NLV
Executive Producer
John Train
Podcast Introduction
It’s Poetry Thursday, and we’ll read Proverbs 31 I’m calling this episode “A Wise Mother.“
Design: Scott Snider | Photo: Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Summary
In Proverbs 31, a wise mother advises her son, King Lemuel, on crucial life principles. She stresses the importance of sexual purity for both men and women, cautioning against the consequences of immorality. Additionally, the mother urges temperance when dealing with alcohol.
Another key aspect of her counsel is the call to defend the defenseless, fostering compassion and benevolence. The passage reaches its pinnacle with a poetic portrayal of an exemplary woman.
Overall, "Thoughts on Proverbs 31" offers timeless wisdom for living a purposeful and virtuous life, guiding readers toward values that resonate across generations.
Listen to the episode for more!
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The Team
Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise: Transcript CorrectionMichael Haner: Podcasting 2.0 ChaptersLifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider: Show ArtJason Paschall: Show ArtLifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney: Newsletter Publisher
Transcript
Download .txt file.
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Steve Webb 0:00An alphabet of wifely excellence.
Steve Webb 0:03It's the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from Riverside, California and podcasting since 2004. It's me your OG Godcaster. Steve Webb. It's poetry Thursday. and our reading today is Proverbs 31. How about before we read, we pray first, our gracious heavenly Father, we love you. and we thank you for this time. We thank You for Your Word. We thank you for proverbs 31 and the lessons that we'll find there. I pray God that you would bless this time in Jesus name, Amen. All right, let's begin.
Steve Webb 0:36Proverbs chapter 31. The words of Lemuel king of masa, which his mother taught him, what my son, what son who came from within me, what son of my promises, do not give your strength to women, or your ways to that which destroys kings. It is not for kings hola mule, it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire strong drink, or they might drink and forget the law and go against the rights of all who are suffering. Give strong drink to him who is about to die at wine to him whose life is full of trouble. Let him drink and forget how poor he is. and remember his troubled no more. Open your mouth for those who cannot speak and for the rights of those who are left without help. Open your mouth be right and fair in what you decide. Stand up for the rights of those who are suffering and in need. Who can find a good wife for she is worth far more than rubies that make one rich. The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will never stop getting good things she does in good and not bad all the days of her life. She looks for wool and flax and works with willing hands. She is like chips that trade. She brings her food from far away. She rises while it is still night and makes food for all those in her house. She gives work for the young women to do. She gives careful thought to a field and buys it. She plants grape vines from what she has earned. She makes herself ready with strength and makes her arms strong. and she sees the what she has earned is good. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the wheel to make cloth. She opens her hand to the poor and holds out her hands to those in need. She is not afraid of the snow for those in her house for all of them are dressed in red. She makes coverings for herself.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve Webb (00:00):
An alphabet of wifely excellence.
It's the Lifespring! One YearBible coming to you from
Riverside, California andpodcasting since 2004. It's me
your OG Godcaster. Steve Webb.It's poetry Thursday. and our
reading today is Proverbs 31.How about before we read, we
pray first, our graciousheavenly Father, we love you.
(00:22):
and we thank you for this time.We thank You for Your Word. We
thank you for proverbs 31 andthe lessons that we'll find
there. I pray God that you wouldbless this time in Jesus name,
Amen. All right, let's begin.
Proverbs chapter 31. The wordsof Lemuel king of masa, which
his mother taught him, what myson, what son who came from
(00:46):
within me, what son of mypromises, do not give your
strength to women, or your waysto that which destroys kings. It
is not for kings hola mule, itis not for kings to drink wine
or for rulers to desire strongdrink, or they might drink and
forget the law and go againstthe rights of all who are
suffering. Give strong drink tohim who is about to die at wine
(01:09):
to him whose life is full oftrouble. Let him drink and
forget how poor he is. andremember his troubled no more.
Open your mouth for those whocannot speak and for the rights
of those who are left withouthelp. Open your mouth be right
and fair in what you decide.Stand up for the rights of those
who are suffering and in need.Who can find a good wife for she
(01:31):
is worth far more than rubiesthat make one rich. The heart of
her husband trusts in her and hewill never stop getting good
things she does in good and notbad all the days of her life.
She looks for wool and flax andworks with willing hands. She is
like chips that trade. Shebrings her food from far away.
(01:52):
She rises while it is stillnight and makes food for all
those in her house. She giveswork for the young women to do.
She gives careful thought to afield and buys it. She plants
grape vines from what she hasearned. She makes herself ready
with strength and makes her armsstrong. and she sees the what
she has earned is good. Her lampdoes not go out at night. She
(02:16):
puts her hands to the wheel tomake cloth. She opens her hand
to the poor and holds out herhands to those in need. She is
not afraid of the snow for thosein her house for all of them are
dressed in red. She makescoverings for herself. Her
clothes are linen cloth andpurple. Her husband is known in
the gates when he sits among theleaders of the land. She makes
(02:38):
linen clothes and sells them.She brings belts to those who
trade her clothes or strengthand honor, she is full of joy
about the future. She opens hermouth with wisdom. The teaching
of kindness is on her tongue.She looks well to the ways of
those in her house and does noteat the bread of doing nothing.
(02:59):
Her children rise up and honorher. Her husband does also and
he praises her saying manydaughters have done well. But
you have done better than all ofthem in pleasing ways lie in
beauty comes to nothing but awoman who fears the Lord will be
praised. Give her the fruit ofher hands and let her works
praise her in the gates.
(03:21):
Well, beloved, this chapter is amother's advice to her son, the
son's name is King Lemuel. andthat's really just all we know
about him. Scholars have a fairamount of conjecture about him.
But there are no facts. Onething that seems to be true is
that there was no king andeither Judah or Israel that had
this name. So instead ofspending time on who he was,
(03:42):
let's just talk a little bitabout the content of the
chapter. This mother warns herson about the dangers of sexual
immorality, which is goodadvice. and the advice would be
just as good as if it were froma mother to a daughter or a
father to either son ordaughter. Both men and women
invite all kinds of trouble ifthey're not sexually pure. Yeah,
(04:02):
I know that sounds oldfashioned. But look at the
consequences on our culturetoday brought on by the sexual
revolution that began in mygeneration that began in the 60s
I was born in the 50s. The 60sis when the birth control pill
came in. and then Katie bar thedoor it did was all open. During
that time, Roe v Wade became thelaw of the land. and now we've
(04:24):
had 10s of millions of abortionsin America if not hundreds of
millions by now. and STDs arerampant. About a quarter of the
children in the US live in asingle parent home if probably
even more than that now. and wein the United States have the
highest percentage of singleparent homes in the world.
Beloved, God's plan for marriageis not to take our fun away.
(04:45):
It's to give us a better andhappier life. So this mother's
advice to her son was goodadvice back then and today. and
then this wise mother talked toher son about the dangers of
alcohol. Nearly everybody has afamily member or no son One
whose life was ruined byalcohol. As an example, I never
met my paternal grandfather. Hewas killed while driving drunk
(05:07):
before I was born. and mybiological father was an
alcoholic, as were three of hisfour brothers, if I'm not
mistaken. The reason I have anydoubt about that is I really
didn't know that side of myfamily is my parents got
divorced when I was three yearsold. I could go on with other
stories about how alcohol hasruined the lives of some of the
people that I know. But don'tget me wrong. Alcohol can be
(05:29):
used responsibly. But adangerous substance has to be
used with the realization thatit is indeed dangerous. and then
this mom talked about theimportance of defending the
defenseless. This was certainlyimportant for a king or any
person in a position of power,but it's true for all of us,
too. What are we doing for thedefenseless? What is your church
(05:51):
doing? Some churches feed theneedy, some have programs for
the homeless, some are active inright to life activities. and
then you as an individual canvolunteer in soup kitchens, or
do prison ministry or councilwomen who are considering
abortions literally the sky isthe limit. Ask God what he would
have you do. and then verses 10to 31 are probably the verses
(06:13):
that proverbs 31 is best knownfor. The mother tells her son
the value of a woman ofcharacter and virtue. In the
original Hebrew. Each versebegins with a consecutive letter
of the alphabet. It's anacrostic. A lot of times across
texts are written so that it'seasier to memorize the material.
One commentator called this "analphabet of wifely excellence".
(06:34):
I like that. Someone else calledit the ABCs of wisdom. and
that's good too. Well, as I wasrereading these verses, I was
thinking about how to talk aboutthem. Because my wife, the
lovely lady, Leanne, comes asclose to fulfilling these verses
as I can imagine any woman can,I can tell you about our
marriage and how I truly do loveher more every day. and how
(06:56):
reading this list made me falleven more in love with her as I
compared her to the list. Well,I told her how I felt, and she
only said, I fall so short, I'mnot bad woman. and then I
thought that you probablywouldn't even believe me, or
you'd think that I was justgilding the lily, but you've
heard me talk about it before.and I really feel this way about
her. So I'm just going to saythis, I believe, down to my very
(07:19):
core, that I am the most blessedman in the world. Leanne is a
marvelous example of theproverbs 31 woman. Her mother
raised her right, and on top ofeverything, she loves the Lord
with all of her heart. and I'vethanked my mother in law
numerous times over the yearsfor the woman that my wife is.
So that's all I'm gonna sayabout her today. I can't help
(07:41):
it. I love her. and she is thatwoman. For those of you that
still have kids at home, mysuggestion is that you have this
kind of talk that this motherhad with King lemme well with
your kids, and I think it's agood idea to write it down is
this wise mother here inProverbs 31 did give your kids
godly advice as they grow andmature. The culture today gives
(08:03):
them all kinds of ungodly adviceand it's up to believing parents
to do all they can to minimizethe impact of the culture around
us. Help them to see theconsequences of following the
crowd. As they get older, you'llgive them more information to
help them to see that truehappiness comes from following
God's plan. and following thecrowd will only bring heartache.
(08:29):
If you have kids, what advicewould you or have you given to
them? Let me know contactinformation. Is it the end of
the show? Or if you've got amodern podcast app, I'd love to
get a Boostagram from you.Tomorrow will be prophecy Friday
and our reading will be the bookof Nahum.
(08:49):
Today's executive producer isJohn train who came in with his
monthly $50 donation. Thank youso much, John, God bless you.
and beloved, this is a 100%value for value podcast. If
you're finding value from theLifespring!, One Year Bible,
then you know what to do go here
Lifespringmedia.com/support
(09:10):
I'll thank you. and I believethat God will bless you.
If you have a comment, if you'vegot a question, if you've got a
prayer request or a praisereport, there are several ways
that you can reach me. Choosethe one that works best for you.
First, send to Boostagram with amodern podcast app, or to leave
a voice message, call theLifespring family Hotline at
(09:32):
plus 1-951-732-8511. Or if youhave a prayer request or praise
report, you can go toprayer.lifespringmedia.com and
if you've got a comment or aquestion about anything you've
heard on the show today, go tocomment.lifespringmedia.com. and
last, my email address is Steveat Lifespring media.com
(10:01):
Brother Scott once again did thealbum art for today's show.
Thank you, Brother Scott. Godbless you. and also thanks to
Sister Denise Michael Haner,Jason Paschall and sister
Brittaney. Thanks to today'sexecutive producer John train
for helping to make this episodepossible. God bless you, John.
and beloved, thank you forinviting me in today. I'll see
you tomorrow. Okay. Until then,may God bless you richly. My
(10:25):
name is Steve Webb. Bye.
Lifespring media bringing themessage of hope, love and good
news since 2004
An alphabet of wifely excellence.
It's the Lifespring! One YearBible coming to you from
Riverside, California andpodcasting since 2004. It's me
your OG Godcaster. Steve Webb.It's poetry Thursday. and our
reading today is Proverbs 31.How about before we read, we
pray first, our graciousheavenly Father, we love you.
(00:22):
and we thank you for this time.We thank You for Your Word. We
thank you for proverbs 31 andthe lessons that we'll find
there. I pray God that you wouldbless this time in Jesus name,
Amen. All right, let's begin.
Proverbs chapter 31. The wordsof Lemuel king of masa, which
his mother taught him, what myson, what son who came from
(00:46):
within me, what son of mypromises, do not give your
strength to women, or your waysto that which destroys kings. It
is not for kings hola mule, itis not for kings to drink wine
or for rulers to desire strongdrink, or they might drink and
forget the law and go againstthe rights of all who are
suffering. Give strong drink tohim who is about to die at wine
(01:09):
to him whose life is full oftrouble. Let him drink and
forget how poor he is. andremember his troubled no more.
Open your mouth for those whocannot speak and for the rights
of those who are left withouthelp. Open your mouth be right
and fair in what you decide.Stand up for the rights of those
who are suffering and in need.Who can find a good wife for she
(01:31):
is worth far more than rubiesthat make one rich. The heart of
her husband trusts in her and hewill never stop getting good
things she does in good and notbad all the days of her life.
She looks for wool and flax andworks with willing hands. She is
like chips that trade. Shebrings her food from far away.
(01:52):
She rises while it is stillnight and makes food for all
those in her house. She giveswork for the young women to do.
She gives careful thought to afield and buys it. She plants
grape vines from what she hasearned. She makes herself ready
with strength and makes her armsstrong. and she sees the what
she has earned is good. Her lampdoes not go out at night. She
(02:16):
puts her hands to the wheel tomake cloth. She opens her hand
to the poor and holds out herhands to those in need. She is
not afraid of the snow for thosein her house for all of them are
dressed in red. She makescoverings for herself. Her
clothes are linen cloth andpurple. Her husband is known in
the gates when he sits among theleaders of the land. She makes
(02:38):
linen clothes and sells them.She brings belts to those who
trade her clothes or strengthand honor, she is full of joy
about the future. She opens hermouth with wisdom. The teaching
of kindness is on her tongue.She looks well to the ways of
those in her house and does noteat the bread of doing nothing.
(02:59):
Her children rise up and honorher. Her husband does also and
he praises her saying manydaughters have done well. But
you have done better than all ofthem in pleasing ways lie in
beauty comes to nothing but awoman who fears the Lord will be
praised. Give her the fruit ofher hands and let her works
praise her in the gates.
(03:21):
Well, beloved, this chapter is amother's advice to her son, the
son's name is King Lemuel. andthat's really just all we know
about him. Scholars have a fairamount of conjecture about him.
But there are no facts. Onething that seems to be true is
that there was no king andeither Judah or Israel that had
this name. So instead ofspending time on who he was,
(03:42):
let's just talk a little bitabout the content of the
chapter. This mother warns herson about the dangers of sexual
immorality, which is goodadvice. and the advice would be
just as good as if it were froma mother to a daughter or a
father to either son ordaughter. Both men and women
invite all kinds of trouble ifthey're not sexually pure. Yeah,
(04:02):
I know that sounds oldfashioned. But look at the
consequences on our culturetoday brought on by the sexual
revolution that began in mygeneration that began in the 60s
I was born in the 50s. The 60sis when the birth control pill
came in. and then Katie bar thedoor it did was all open. During
that time, Roe v Wade became thelaw of the land. and now we've
(04:24):
had 10s of millions of abortionsin America if not hundreds of
millions by now. and STDs arerampant. About a quarter of the
children in the US live in asingle parent home if probably
even more than that now. and wein the United States have the
highest percentage of singleparent homes in the world.
Beloved, God's plan for marriageis not to take our fun away.
(04:45):
It's to give us a better andhappier life. So this mother's
advice to her son was goodadvice back then and today. and
then this wise mother talked toher son about the dangers of
alcohol. Nearly everybody has afamily member or no son One
whose life was ruined byalcohol. As an example, I never
met my paternal grandfather. Hewas killed while driving drunk
(05:07):
before I was born. and mybiological father was an
alcoholic, as were three of hisfour brothers, if I'm not
mistaken. The reason I have anydoubt about that is I really
didn't know that side of myfamily is my parents got
divorced when I was three yearsold. I could go on with other
stories about how alcohol hasruined the lives of some of the
people that I know. But don'tget me wrong. Alcohol can be
(05:29):
used responsibly. But adangerous substance has to be
used with the realization thatit is indeed dangerous. and then
this mom talked about theimportance of defending the
defenseless. This was certainlyimportant for a king or any
person in a position of power,but it's true for all of us,
too. What are we doing for thedefenseless? What is your church
(05:51):
doing? Some churches feed theneedy, some have programs for
the homeless, some are active inright to life activities. and
then you as an individual canvolunteer in soup kitchens, or
do prison ministry or councilwomen who are considering
abortions literally the sky isthe limit. Ask God what he would
have you do. and then verses 10to 31 are probably the verses
(06:13):
that proverbs 31 is best knownfor. The mother tells her son
the value of a woman ofcharacter and virtue. In the
original Hebrew. Each versebegins with a consecutive letter
of the alphabet. It's anacrostic. A lot of times across
texts are written so that it'seasier to memorize the material.
One commentator called this "analphabet of wifely excellence".
(06:34):
I like that. Someone else calledit the ABCs of wisdom. and
that's good too. Well, as I wasrereading these verses, I was
thinking about how to talk aboutthem. Because my wife, the
lovely lady, Leanne, comes asclose to fulfilling these verses
as I can imagine any woman can,I can tell you about our
marriage and how I truly do loveher more every day. and how
(06:56):
reading this list made me falleven more in love with her as I
compared her to the list. Well,I told her how I felt, and she
only said, I fall so short, I'mnot bad woman. and then I
thought that you probablywouldn't even believe me, or
you'd think that I was justgilding the lily, but you've
heard me talk about it before.and I really feel this way about
her. So I'm just going to saythis, I believe, down to my very
(07:19):
core, that I am the most blessedman in the world. Leanne is a
marvelous example of theproverbs 31 woman. Her mother
raised her right, and on top ofeverything, she loves the Lord
with all of her heart. and I'vethanked my mother in law
numerous times over the yearsfor the woman that my wife is.
So that's all I'm gonna sayabout her today. I can't help
(07:41):
it. I love her. and she is thatwoman. For those of you that
still have kids at home, mysuggestion is that you have this
kind of talk that this motherhad with King lemme well with
your kids, and I think it's agood idea to write it down is
this wise mother here inProverbs 31 did give your kids
godly advice as they grow andmature. The culture today gives
(08:03):
them all kinds of ungodly adviceand it's up to believing parents
to do all they can to minimizethe impact of the culture around
us. Help them to see theconsequences of following the
crowd. As they get older, you'llgive them more information to
help them to see that truehappiness comes from following
God's plan. and following thecrowd will only bring heartache.
(08:29):
If you have kids, what advicewould you or have you given to
them? Let me know contactinformation. Is it the end of
the show? Or if you've got amodern podcast app, I'd love to
get a Boostagram from you.Tomorrow will be prophecy Friday
and our reading will be the bookof Nahum.
(08:49):
Today's executive producer isJohn train who came in with his
monthly $50 donation. Thank youso much, John, God bless you.
and beloved, this is a 100%value for value podcast. If
you're finding value from theLifespring!, One Year Bible,
then you know what to do go here
Lifespringmedia.com/support
(09:10):
I'll thank you. and I believethat God will bless you.
If you have a comment, if you'vegot a question, if you've got a
prayer request or a praisereport, there are several ways
that you can reach me. Choosethe one that works best for you.
First, send to Boostagram with amodern podcast app, or to leave
a voice message, call theLifespring family Hotline at
(09:32):
plus 1-951-732-8511. Or if youhave a prayer request or praise
report, you can go toprayer.lifespringmedia.com and
if you've got a comment or aquestion about anything you've
heard on the show today, go tocomment.lifespringmedia.com. and
last, my email address is Steveat Lifespring media.com
(10:01):
Brother Scott once again did thealbum art for today's show.
Thank you, Brother Scott. Godbless you. and also thanks to
Sister Denise Michael Haner,Jason Paschall and sister
Brittaney. Thanks to today'sexecutive producer John train
for helping to make this episodepossible. God bless you, John.
and beloved, thank you forinviting me in today. I'll see
you tomorrow. Okay. Until then,may God bless you richly. My
(10:25):
name is Steve Webb. Bye.
Lifespring media bringing themessage of hope, love and good
news since 2004
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