“She girds her loins with strength”: “She girds her loins” is an idiom for preparing herself for work, which she is going to do “with strength”. This is a picture of hard work, and probably physical work. New International Version expresses this as “She sets about her work vigorously,” while Good News Translation says simply “She is a hard worker.” An alternative rendering of the line in one translation is “She is never lazy at any time. She is a strong woman. . ..”

“And makes her arms strong”: This is another picture with a meaning similar to that in the previous line. The focus here is most likely physical vigor; so Revised English Bible says “and tackles her work with vigour.” Since the two lines are very similar in meaning, we may combine them as Good News Translation does: “She is a hard worker, strong and industrious.” A simple rendering of the verse from another language is “She is a strong working woman, and she works hard all the time.”

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 .