John Gill Commentary Proverbs 31:17

"She girdeth her loins with strength, And maketh strong her arms." — Proverbs 31:17 (ASV)

She girds her loins with strength
Showing her readiness to every good work; and with what cheerfulness, spirit, and resolution, she set about it, and with what dispatch and expedition she performed it: the allusion is to the girding and tucking up of long garments, worn in the eastern countries, when any work was set about in earnest, which required dispatch; see (Luke 17:8) (12:35) ; the strength of creatures being in their loins, (Job 40:16) ; the loins are sometimes put for strength, as in Plautus ^F18 ; and the sense is much the same as what follows;

and strengthens her arms ; does all she finds to do with all her might and main, as the church does; not in her own strength, but in the strength of Christ; to whom she seeks for it, and in whose strength she goes forth about her business; by whom the arms of her hands are made strong, even by the mighty God of Jacob; and because she thus applies to him for it, she is said to do it herself, (Genesis 49:24) (Philippians 4:13) ; here she plays the man, and acts the manly part, (1 Corinthians 16:13) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F18: "Lumbos defractos velim", Stichus, Act. 2. Sc. 1. v. 37.