31:22

The first line describes materials to cover her bed. The second line describes her expensive imported clothing.

22a She makes coverings for her bed;

22b her clothing is fine linen and purple.

31:22a

She makes coverings for her bed: This line is literally “She makes coverings for herself.” These coverings probably refer to things like sheets, bedspreads or quilts that give her bed an attractive appearance and make it comfortable. Some other ways to translate this line are:

She makes quilts for herself (God’s Word)
-or-
She makes her own bedspreads. (New Living Translation (2004))

See 7:16. It has the related verb phrase “decked my bed with coverings.”

31:22b

her clothing is fine linen and purple: This line refers to two kinds of clothing. Both kinds were worn by very wealthy people. The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fine linen refers to the highest quality of linen cloth that was normally imported from Egypt. The word purple refers to woolen cloth that was dyed purple with rare imported dye from Phoenicia.

Some other ways to translate this line are:

• Specify the two kinds of material that were used in her clothing. For example:

She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
She wears a tunic that is made of imported linen and a robe that is made of expensive purple wool.

• Use a more general description. For example:

All her clothes are beautiful and expensive
-or-
She wears expensive clothes that are made from imported cloth.

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