Answer
The insights and moral principles explored in Proverbs are meant to inform and equip young people to make wise decisions in life. God created us to live in families and receive our deepest joy, purpose, and fulfillment in these committed relationships. Thus, choosing a marriage partner is one of our most critical life decisions. In Proverbs 12:4, Solomon encourages young men to look for a wife of noble character: “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones” (ESV).
An “excellent” wife is a godly, capable woman. In the original Hebrew, this word portrays desirable, valuable, helpful, and worthy character traits. The same term describes Ruth (Ruth 3:11) and the virtuous woman featured in Proverbs 31:1–10. Solomon says a woman of such qualities is “the crown of her husband.” Often in Scripture, a crown symbolizes blessing, dignity, and honor (Proverbs 4:9; 14:24; 16:31; 17:6; Isaiah 28:5; 61:3). The wise young man will select a wife based on her excellence of character, and she will bring him blessings, respectability, and honor.
On the other hand, a “shameful” wife lacks moral strength, dignity, and soundness of character. Solomon states that such a wife is like rottenness to her husband’s bones. “Rottenness” is associated with decay, stench, putridity, and death. The original Hebrew word is used to describe a moth-eaten garment (see Job 13:28) or decomposed wood that easily crumbles (see Job 41:27). A shameful wife ruins her husband gradually from the inside out. She may look outwardly beautiful, but no amount of physical allure can compensate for a woman’s lack of moral integrity. Instead of building up her home, husband, and family, she slowly tears them down, bit by bit from within, using her own two hands (Proverbs 14:1). A wife who likes to quarrel is like “the constant dripping of a leaky roof,” explains Solomon (Proverbs 19:13). No matter how lovely she is to look at, the contentious, nagging, complaining wife will wear down her husband’s patience until he can’t stand to be around her anymore (Proverbs 21:19; 25:24; 27:15–16).
The New Living Translation renders Proverbs 12:4, “A worthy wife is a crown for her husband, but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones.” The excruciating humiliation a husband endures because of his wife’s moral failings slowly weakens and eventually incapacitates him like an untreated cancer. He decomposes from the inside out as she drags him down, holds him back, and hinders his progress. Her effect is much like that of a terrible, debilitating disease. Instead of blessings, dignity, and honor, she brings him to shame, agony, and failure.
A woman’s true beauty is cultivated on the inside. Wise young men look deeper than “the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes” for “the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands” (1 Peter 3:3–5, NLT; see also 1 Timothy 2:9–10).
A shameful wife is rottenness to her husband’s bones because she causes him deep suffering and sorrow. In the end, she becomes his undoing. But a wife of noble character is a gift from God. “A prudent wife is from the Lord” (Proverbs 19:14). She is a valuable treasure “worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life” (Proverbs 31:10–12).
