31:21

In this verse, the first line gives the result (“no fear”). The second line gives the reason (fine clothing).

21a When it snows, she has no fear for her household,

21b for they are all clothed in scarlet.

31:21a

When it snows: The phrase When it snows refers to the time of year when the weather is cold enough for snow to fall. In Palestine, this winter season lasts from November to February. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

when it is winter
-or-
when it is cold season

she has no fear for her household: The phrase she has no fear means that she is not worried or anxious. The word household is the same word as in 31:15. It probably refers here to the servants as well as the members of the family.

Some other ways to translate this line are:

She has no fear of winter for her household (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
She is not worried about her household when cold weather arrives

31:21b

for they are all clothed in scarlet: There are two textual options here for the Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as scarlet :

(1) The Masoretic Text (MT), supported by the Syriac and Targum, have scarlet or “crimson.” For example:

for all her household are clothed in crimson (New Revised Standard Version)

(2) The LXX and Latin Vulgate change some of the vowels to get a word that means “two” or “double.” For example:

because her whole family has a double layer of clothing (God’s Word)

It is recommended that you follow the MT, along with most English versions. The main argument against the MT is that a bright color is not relevant to keeping warm in cold weather. The main argument in favor of the MT is that scarlet clothing was made out of wool. So it was warm and of high quality as well as being luxurious.

Some ways to translate this line are:

• Specify the color and add a footnote to explain the significance. For example:

For her whole household is dressed in crimson. (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)

Suggested Footnote: Bright red clothing was expensive. It was also warm because it was made from wool.

• Describe the clothing as “warm.” This will fit either of the textual options. For example:

for everyone has warm clothes (New Living Translation (2004))

• Combine the ideas of high quality and warmth. For example:

because they all have fine clothes to keep them warm (New Century Version)
-or-
for she has clothed them all in ⌊warm⌋ , crimson ⌊coats⌋ (The Voice)

General Comment on 31:21a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine some of the words or phrases in these lines or to reorder the reason before the result. For example:

Her entire household has expensive, warm clothes to wear, so she has no reason to worry when cold weather arrives.

© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.