Strength and dignity are her clothing.
She laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom.
Kind instruction is on her tongue.
The Bible’s story is carried by women of faith: Sarah and Hannah, Ruth and Naomi, Deborah and Esther, Mary of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene. This collection gathers passages women often look for and passages about women whose faith shaped the story, with a note on where each comes from. Nearly all of them speak to everyone, and several were first spoken to men. That is part of their strength.
Proverbs 31, read as a poem
The portrait of the “worthy woman” (Proverbs 31:10–31) follows the teaching of a king’s mother to her son (31:1-9). It is a carefully built alphabet poem, and it closes a book that has pictured wisdom as a woman calling out in the streets (Proverbs 1:20). Many readers take the woman of Proverbs 31 as wisdom given a human face. She buys a field, runs a trade, opens her hands to the poor and speaks with kindness. Read that way, the poem is a celebration, not a standard to measure yourself against. Near its close, it puts reverence for God above charm and beauty (Proverbs 31:30). The same phrase, “worthy woman,” is used of Ruth, a poor widow gleaning in the fields (Ruth 3:11).
Women of faith and courage
Mary’s answer to the angel (Luke 1:38) and Elizabeth’s blessing (Luke 1:45) both center on faith. Esther risks her life to speak for her people (Esther 4:14); the Catholic edition follows the longer Greek form of Esther, which includes her prayer. Judith, whose book is in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but not in most Protestant ones, rebukes the leaders of her besieged town for setting God a deadline and then acts herself (Judith 8:11–17). Her story is a violent one, and its refrain is that God saved His people “by the hand of a woman” (Judith 16:6). Our question on why Catholic Bibles have more books explains the difference in canons.
The first witnesses
On Easter morning women came to the tomb first. Luke names Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James, and notes that the apostles did not believe them at first (Luke 24:1–10). In John, the risen Jesus sends Mary Magdalene to tell the others (John 20:17–18), which is why Christian tradition has called her the apostle to the apostles.
A verse to read in context
Psalm 46:5, “God is within her. She shall not be moved,” is often printed on gifts for women. In the psalm, “her” is the city of God, where the Most High dwells (46:4). It is a promise of God’s presence with His people. That is a good thing to pray for any woman, as long as we know what the verse first meant.
Short verses for cards: Proverbs 31:25–26, Luke 1:45 and Joshua 1:9. Every passage here can be downloaded as an image card.
The passages
Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”
Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary: “Blessed is she who believed.” What she praises is faith.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain;
but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
Charm deceives and beauty fades; the woman who fears the LORD is the one to be praised — the theme the Book of Proverbs began with (1:7).
Mary said, “Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Mary’s yes to God, given after she had asked her own honest question (1:34). Christians of every tradition read it as trust; Catholic and Orthodox Christians especially honor her as a model of faith.
Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.
Ruth, a widow and a foreigner, refuses to leave her mother-in-law Naomi. Often read at weddings, these words were first spoken between two grieving women.
For if you keep quiet on this occasion, help and protection will come to the Jews from another place; but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you have been made queen for this occasion?’”
Mordecai to Esther: “Who knows if you have been made queen for this occasion?” Courage in a place she had not chosen.
For Your power stands not in numbers, nor Your might in strong men, but You are a God of the afflicted. You are a helper of the oppressed, a helper of the weak, a protector of the forsaken, a savior of those who are without hope.
Judith’s prayer before she acts: God’s power “stands not in numbers,” and He is “a helper of the weak.” From a deuterocanonical book in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles.
Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold Me, for I haven’t yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had said these things to her.
The risen Jesus sends Mary Magdalene to the disciples, and she tells them “that she had seen the Lord.” In all four Gospels, women are the first witnesses of the empty tomb.
Let your beauty come not from the outward adorning of braiding your hair, and of wearing gold ornaments or of putting on fine clothing, but from the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight.
Beauty from “the hidden person of the heart.” The letter is addressing wives, some married to husbands who did not share their faith (3:1), and Christians read its household instructions in different ways; the call to inner beauty is one the New Testament makes to everyone.
Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
First spoken to Joshua, and true for anyone who has to be brave: “the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Who can find a worthy woman?
For her value is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband trusts in her.
He shall have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax,
and works eagerly with her hands.
She is like the merchant ships.
She brings her bread from afar.
She rises also while it is yet night,
gives food to her household,
and portions for her servant girls.
She considers a field, and buys it.
With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.
She arms her waist with strength,
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp doesn’t go out by night.
She lays her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her arms to the poor;
yes, she extends her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
She makes for herself carpets of tapestry.
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected in the gates,
when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them,
and delivers sashes to the merchant.
Strength and dignity are her clothing.
She laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom.
Kind instruction is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
and doesn’t eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed.
Her husband also praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
but you excel them all.”
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain;
but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands!
Let her works praise her in the gates!
The whole poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It celebrates a capable woman who trades, buys land and cares for the poor; it is a tribute to wisdom lived out, not a checklist.
