“Women ... be discreet.” Titus 2:4-5
“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.” Proverbs 11:22
“A gracious woman retaineth honour.”
Proverbs 11:16
“She openeth her mouth with wisdom;
and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”
Proverbs 31:26
“The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.” “It is better to dwell in the corner of a housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.” “The earth ... cannot bear ... an odious woman when she is married”
(Proverbs 19:13; 21:9; 30:21, 23; See Also 21:19 and 25:24).
The meaning of the Greek word discreet has to do with a person having a sound mind, one who controls her own desires and impulses with proper thinking, demonstrating self-control, with proper restraints on all the passions and desires; one who is moderate as to her opinions or passions.
In the verses above, we read God’s instruction for wives to be discreet. We especially need to control our tongues. We are to build our husbands up when talking to them, expressing a love that believes all things and thinks no evil (1 Cor. 13:5,7). The verse “Judge not that ye be not judged” applies to our husbands as well as to others and means we shouldn’t decide what motivates their actions. Perhaps they don’t do things perfectly; neither do we. Perhaps they don’t do things as we would, but we can find the good in what they do and praise it (Phil. 4:8). We are never to tear them down behind their backs. “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her” (Prov. 31:11). Our tongues need to be ruled by the “law of kindness” (Prov. 31:26). Solomon describes in vivid language how difficult it is to live with a grouchy, argumentative, and complaining woman. Let’s do our husbands good and not evil all our days.