her loins with strength and strengthens her arms for the task” (v. 17).135 The itemization of her deeds in the body of the poem defines specifically what is meant by ḥayil. The rhetorical question who (mi, see 30:4, 9) can find (yimsaʾ, see 3:13) aims to awaken within the audience the desire to find such a wife or to be like her. The parallel verset B implies a relative, not absolute, negative answer, “Almost no one” (cf. Ps. 90:11; Isa. 53:1; Hos. 14:9 [10]).136 It also clarifies the meaning of
Page 521