An accurate translation is:
...woman of valor [chayil][1] he [shall] find [her]![2] Her value is far above rubies
[1] The Hebrew word Chayil [H2428], which is mistranslated only when applied to women, means: Valor, Strength, or Might. The word never means “virtue.”
Chayil is mistranslated as “virtuous” only three times in the Hebrew text, and each of these mistranslations is deliberate due to translator bias against women.
This bias is not found only in ancient translations but in modern translations also, as translators continue to add to and take away from the Word of God, with respect to the word, chayil, ... but only when it is associated with women.
Other than misogyny, there is no lingual or textual reason to translate the Hebrew word, chayil, as virtuous. The Woman of chayil, according to scripture, is a woman of strength and valor.
[2] The common translation, “Who can find her?” is also a mistranslation. Nothing in the text suggests that strong women are impossible or even difficult to find, but that is almost impossible to know by reading most translations.
James Strong defined the Hebrew word, mi (translated as "who?") as an interrogative pronoun. But it appears that exegetical rules apply only when it suits scholars, as Exodus 24:14 translates the word mi as “any,” and not in an interrogative sense.
When it comes to Bible translation, rules are often followed or ignored according
to translator bias, and such is the case concerning women of chayil.
This is an excerpt from The Hungry Hearts Bible Commentary edited by this author.
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