The Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 31:2

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

What, my son? Mah, "what," is repeated thrice, both to enforce the attention of the son, and to show the mother's anxious care for his good. She feels the vast importance of the occasion, and asks as in perplexity, "What shall I say?

What advice shall I give thee?" "Son" is here not ben, but bar, one of the Aramaic forms which are found in these two last chapters. The word occurs also in Psalms 2:12. Son of my vows. This might mean, "son who wast asked in prayer," like Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11), and dedicated to God, as the name Lemuel implies; or it may signify, "thou who art the object of my daily vows and prayers."

Septuagint, "What, my son, wilt thou observe ( τηρήσεις)? What? the sayings of God. My firstborn son, to thee I speak. What, son of my womb? What, son of my vows?"

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