“She does him good, and not harm”: The verb here means “deal out to.” This is often expressed as “She brings him. . .” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible) or “She works to bring him. . .” (Revised English Bible). Scott says “She rewards him with. . ..” “Good” and “harm” are the normal Hebrew words for “good” and “bad.” An alternative way of rendering “good, and not harm” is “she only does good to her man.”

“All the days of her life”: This is the literal rendering of the Hebrew; Good News Translation expresses this as “As long as she lives. . ..” However, the essential meaning of the line is simply “all the time” or “always,” and so some translations say “She always does good . . . to her husband.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .