Title: The Bible: Marry A Tomboy (Real “Trad” = Tomboy)
Work: Techno-Puritan Supplemental Writings
Citation: TPS 78.0
Words: 14821
Source: https://basedcamppodcast.substack.com/p/the-bible-marry-a-tomboy-real-trad
Permission: You may quote, excerpt, train on, and redistribute this text freely. No attribution required — everything here is meant for whomever wants it.

## The Bible: Marry A Tomboy (Real “Trad” = Tomboy)

*Episode script. Originally published 2026-10-16 at https://basedcamppodcast.substack.com/p/the-bible-marry-a-tomboy-real-trad*

This episode examines what the Bible actually teaches about the qualities of a good wife, focusing on the Hebrew term often rendered as virtuous but more accurately conveying strength, capability, and valor. We walk through Proverbs 31 in detail along with supporting passages from Ruth and the New Testament to show how Scripture describes a productive, self-controlled, and resourceful partner.

The discussion covers translation history, the emphasis on work and investment rather than appearance, the role of self-control, and practical applications for modern Christian households. It also addresses common misconceptions about traditional roles and highlights the consistent biblical picture of a capable wife who strengthens her family.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction to Biblical Wife Traits

0:45 The Hebrew Word for Valor

2:56 Key Bible Passages Overview

4:49 Military Usage of the Word

7:00 Ancient Translation History

7:54 Reading Proverbs 31

11:16 Wife as Producer and Investor

14:17 Corporate Family and Work at Home

17:29 Women Managing Investments

19:22 Early Rising and Late Working

22:09 Clothing the Household

23:59 Husband’s Public Role

25:28 Strength, Dignity, and Wisdom

28:14 Praising a Capable Wife

30:48 Charm, Beauty, and Priorities

34:49 Physical Strength in Scripture

35:23 Beauty Fleeting and Glamour Magic

35:37 Honoring Wife’s Works at City Gate

37:52 Interpreting Command Against Lord’s Name

43:52 Ruth and Proverbs 12

45:10 New Testament Passages

47:53 Self-Control and Conduct

51:14 Modesty and Good Works

54:30 Jewelry and Designer Items

59:25 Head Covering in Corinthians

1:01:26 Jesus’ Appearance and Hair

1:07:37 Pagan Influences on Imagery

1:14:26 Closing Thoughts and Application

**Malcolm Collins**:
Hello, Simone. I’m excited to be here with you today. Today, we are going to be exploring what the bible says you should look for in a wife. Oh. And surprise, surprise, the bible being a great and wise book. The wisest of books says that you should look for a tomboy. Not a woman who dresses like a guy, but otherwise, most of the traits we today would associate with a tomboy. And I appreciate that the writers of the bible were men of culture. Oh my gosh.

**Simone Collins**:
Okay. Great.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And this has been hidden a lot from modern readings of the bible because the word that makes it especially clear Okay. Has... Essentially, it was it was really well translated for most of the bible’s history until we got to pretty modern translations. Okay. Like, how modern? Like, many of the English translations, for example.

**Simone Collins**:
Okay. So, like, Elizabethan, like, King James, they started messing with it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
They started translating a word that... Into into virtuous very frequently, but the word is not virtuous. And it’s a word that is commonly when it’s talking about, like, what a good woman is in in the Old Testament. And can you guess what this word is most commonly used to describe... Like, it’s it’s common normal usage. Rugged? It’s used to describe the power of an army. Like, it is a very aggressive word. It is a word that we will we will get into. Okay. Because when you when you understand that and we... And we’ll go through it in context, we’ll go through when it’s used to describe the strength of an army, you will see that what it expects of women. And then we’re gonna go through more of what the New Testament says about women and longer bits of the Old Testament, and the bible is not shy about this tomboy aesthetic. And you will realize, Simone, that you are closer than you would imagine to the true tradwife. Have you defined a tradwife by a

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, perfect. You really keep trying to make me into a tradwife.

**Malcolm Collins**:
The true trad wife is the tomboy trad wife, Simone.

**Simone Collins**:
You slept in my childhood bedroom for, like, three months when you were out on She painted it all pink. Yeah. It was it

**Malcolm Collins**:
was a very it was very small. Pink like all of your knives. You know? Your pink knife collection. It was so girly.

**Simone Collins**:
So not tomboy, obviously.

**Malcolm Collins**:
But she showed it to me on the first date I went to her house. She’s like, look at all my knives.

**Simone Collins**:
They’re super cute. I should display them around here. We can I have a a knife wall? That would be super cute. I... They’re just right up there in the attic. They’re, like, 30 feet from me right now. Do it. Okay.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Very on on brand for our culture. Yeah. So the... There’s four instances in which this happens, the the use of this word. We’ve got Ruth three eleven. We’ve got Proverbs twelve four. We’ve got Proverbs thirty one ten, which is the opening of the famous poem that we’re gonna get... Read through the whole thing Which does a... Is very explicit on this. It’s a a mom telling her son what he should look for in a wife and bemoaning how hard it is to find these tomboys. Where where where can I find these women? So the word

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, so nothing has changed because this is what I hear from the young eligible gentleman of base camp.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yes. The Shaiol... Obviously, I’m pronouncing it wrong, is a masculine noun whose core meanings are strengths, efficiency, ability, valor, wealth, and or it’s often just directly translated as army or host.

**Simone Collins**:
I mean, that sounds good in any partner. Yes. That seems solid. I would I would encourage our sons to get that for sure.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Strength, efficiency, and ability. I’m like, yeah.

**Simone Collins**:
Go for it. Too. Like, I mean, any spouse, you would probably want those things. No one wants an inefficient spouse.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Any any... There there are lines that basically say you should not focus on a woman with lots of jewelry. You shouldn’t focus on a woman, which I also think is a pretty advice.

**Simone Collins**:
Isn’t that a representation of wealth?

**Malcolm Collins**:
However Who over gussies herself up. You shouldn’t focus on... Yeah. So we’re we’re gonna learn a

**Simone Collins**:
about that. Inefficient, and that is actually, if anything, a sign of weakness.

**Malcolm Collins**:
It is it is used, and it’s good advice. Like, one thing I’m gonna say that I like about this is I actually think if I was going to build, like, a guide for my own kids on what to look for in a wife, it’s going to look a lot like what the Bible says. Okay? Now note this word is used extensively for military forces, for mighty men of valor, or something. When the subject of the woman, English bibles often softened it to virtuous, excellent, or noble character.

**Simone Collins**:
Okay.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Where if you look in the Jewish tradition, it’s often translated as woman of valor or woman of strength, which I still think undersells it. Alright? Now to understand how this word is normally used, if you look at something like Exodus fourteen nine or fourteen twenty eight or fifteen four Pharaoh’s... Oh, shit. This word, army, is is what it’s described as. The the the Oh,

**Simone Collins**:
so you... That you see the same word explicitly used to describe an army.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. In judges six twelve, the angel calls Gideon a man of mighty valor, and that’s the same word there. In Judges, Jeff... Jepheshin is introduced as a mighty man of valor. And you see this Samuel’s nine one. You see this Kings five one. It’s it’s a common. Okay. So... And you’ll see how when you look at these translations, if you look at a a common English translation, it’ll say something like, thou art a virtuous woman, where if you translated it more directly, you would say, you are a strong woman. Or a modern English translation will say, a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, whereas a more direct translation would say, a courageous wife is a crown to her husband. or you will see a virtuous, who shall find a virtuous woman? and then better translation was probably who can find a courageous wife. Or we’ll say obtain wealth wrought valiantly. And then it might otherwise be translated as obtained wealth many did mighty things. So if you were asking when did it get fully translated, if you go to the Septuagint, which uses Greek, it was translated as a woman of power and strength, courageous, or a manly slash brave wife. A manly wife. Adara.

**Simone Collins**:
That’s pretty tomboy coded. Okay.

**Malcolm Collins**:
So this this comes from Adara relating to anor or man, meaning fortitude. So, like, the early translators knew, like, you know, when the... They were originally writing the the New Testament, they would have known that there’s been a manly wife.

**Simone Collins**:
Like you

**Malcolm Collins**:
want a a tough woman here.

**Speaker 3**:
So I double checked this just to make sure I wasn’t making any mistakes. And, yeah, the Septuagint was translated in the third to second century BC, and it renders the Hebrew as the word Andrea, which means man, the root manliness. but in ancient Greek and in Hellenistic periods, it was also used to mean courage, fortitude, bravery, as a result of the strengths of character.

**Malcolm Collins**:
In the Armeniac terrorism, it’s something like a skilled woman. In the Latin Vulgate, even going into the Latin Vulgate, it continues with the term strong woman, or or as virtuous. And then in Proverbs, in later English translations, especially the King James version, it was translated to virtuous. Alright? So I will now read you, the pope Proverbs 31, where the mom of a king is telling her son what to look like, what to look for in a wife. Okay? So she says, a wife, and then of this word character, who can find? She is worth more... Far more than rubies. So no. No. Going into it right here, it’s this it’s this doting Jewish mom. Like, god. If I could just find you a tomboy wife, that’d be worth more than all the rubies, which is true. Good advice. Worth more than rubies. Yeah. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Again, this is when you say that your wife is subordinate to you, when you lack confidence in her or if you choose a woman who you expect to not have confidence in, you have failed. That is that is step number one in choosing a wife. Have confidence in this person. I think that’s actually really good. It’s not the advice that I would give off the top of my head, but when I think about it, yes, someone who you can have confidence in is probably the first thing you wanna check off on your wife search.

**Simone Collins**:
Well, especially if they’re subordinate to you. Because if they’re subordinate to you, you are delegating them tasks, and you can’t delegate things to someone in whom you do not have confidence.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And what’s cool about doing episodes like this is I think they can be useful even to our atheist followers or followers of other religious traditions. Sure. Simply because the bible gives such good advice, we can talk through life advice, like what to look for in a wife, by just reading and analyzing what’s in the bible.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. It’s like Nux says. He’s like, well, I mean, like, it’s been around for thousands of years, so maybe there’s something to it.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yes. well, other people would be like, well, that means it’s old and outdated. And I’m like, well, it... It’s remarkably not, which I find quite quite fun. And I think, actually, the areas where our society is failing most right now are areas where people have reinterpreted the parts of the bible, like the kill them all parts, that they felt were outdated or just the way war was fought during that period. And I always point out that God actively chose to punish Saul for not killing them all and tells Saul that’s why he’s punishing him. You can make up all of the other reasons. You could say, well, Saul was bad in these other ways. That’s not why God said he’s punishing him. He says it’s because you didn’t kill them all. Like, God clearly meant it. Right? You know, God God had somebody stoned to death for not doing the status. Right? Like, I I guess he was just mistaken back then. you know? so I I think where we’re loosening restrictions to try to more modernize... And a lot of Christians do this. They go as this buddy Christ version of Christianity where the bible’s all, you know, sunshine and roses. And I think that that has made our society very susceptible to, groups that want to exploit us. And, fortunately, I feel that we are getting back a a real Christianity, in this generation, and I see it from other online speakers and stuff like this. This is a a Christianity that can fight a crusade or do witch hunts or, you know, all the fun stuff we used to do. Now back back to the text here. no. Obviously, not the bad witch hunts, but they’re... You know, I think I think we’ve we’ve created a problem where we have, like, active hordes of swamp hags now. See our swamp hag episode. Actually, I should add that to the religious tracks. To continue here, she brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. Sorry. Really?

**Simone Collins**:
She

**Malcolm Collins**:
gets up while it is still night. She provides for her family and portions for her male... Female servants. By the way, does any of this not describe you so far, Simone?

**Simone Collins**:
I don’t have female servants. I don’t wanna be around people.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yes. You do. You literally have a bunch of employees at a company that is mostly female that you Oh.

**Simone Collins**:
Basically have a idea. Me. They give me problems. but, yes, I guess, we we work with That’s

**Malcolm Collins**:
the way servants always were for for women. They were... Come on. You you don’t read enough historic romance, Simone,

**Simone Collins**:
to Okay. Great. Yeah. I guess, yeah, you you know how it is to be a villainous girl boss.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Continue here. She considers a female and buys it out of earnings she plants in a vineyard. So what’s she doing here? And this is something that goes against

**Simone Collins**:
buying a slave?

**Malcolm Collins**:
She... No. She considers a field and buys it.

**Simone Collins**:
I thought you said she considers a female and buys it. Oh my god. Okay. Phew.

**Malcolm Collins**:
But she’s buying She’s

**Simone Collins**:
buying property.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. She’s meant to be worked and provide income for the family. Yeah. This is This is

**Simone Collins**:
a corporate family girl boss is what it is.

**Malcolm Collins**:
The idea that a woman should not work is very directly contradicted here. Now what you could say is you might be able to lower it to, like, she should be a corporate wife. But most... Sorry. For people who do not know what a corporate family is, that’s where the husband and wife work together on a joint family project like our fab for us. We boast code for our fab. We boast code for Mudpuppy. We boast code for all of our sites. We boast do promotion for it. We boast do promotion on this. I might be the leading voice in it. I might be the male or the the the the dominant voice in these things, and I might technically be, like, the manager of it. But Simone is still actively working on it, and I think that really keeps both the biblical... The wife working at home because you can buy fields while working at home. Right? Like, that’s a a work from home kind of a thing. and so when so often peoples look at these tradelives, and they go, they’re earning money. That’s not what a traditional woman should do, you know, with their content, for example. Well, that’s not what the Old Testament says.

**Simone Collins**:
Well, also peep... Well, that’s because people think that what trad wife means is woman who only does homemaking, which never was the case. Never. Never. Never. I’ve like, well, woman never just cleaned the house, took care of the kids, educated the kids, and cooked. She also managed the family’s agricultural businesses, did bookkeeping for her husband, like, did all the others... All the other stuff. I mean, like, you did some other episode where, like, basically, women just do the majority of the work. And the husband’s got high risk, high reward, like, basically, venture capital work of the family, the sword and shield relationship.

**Malcolm Collins**:
That was such a good episode. I gotta add that to the Yeah. You should.

**Simone Collins**:
You should. Because this... That is what seems to be described here. And at first, I was like, I don’t know. This just sounds like, I don’t know. Get a good wife. What are they? They’re good at stuff, but they aren’t describing beauty. They aren’t describing modesty. Like, picture of a biblical wife was modest, veiled, like, kind of, you know, nurturing, doesn’t talk ever. You know? All of that is

**Malcolm Collins**:
an act, and it’s it’s an act that I think often is is indicative of a woman who is going to be a pain in the butt to be married to, to be frank. Because for women who prefer seeing themselves as, like, this ideal trad woman, they then make your relationship about seeing themselves that way, honoring themselves in that way rather than being a productive and useful partner. and note here, we haven’t we haven’t gotten to anything about that sort of stuff yet. Yeah. we’re we’re we’re all on, like, how useful is she to you? Is she buying the right stuff for the family? Is she going out and getting supplies? Is she a good investor? Is she, good at work? Right? And and note here, because two things are implied by this. She considers the field and buys it, and out of earning, she plants a vineyard. And out of her earnings, she plants a vineyard. She’s earning from this field. Okay? Yeah. It’s saying that she’s not just, like, taking a job and making money, but she’s taking a job, making money, and then reinvesting that money into things that make more money.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. You’re right. Yeah. Buying fields... Then, like, purpose of the field is both probably to sustain the family, but also make more money. So the family has more optionality with other projects.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And I will note here, males and females each have their own role within a family. I think there is a high degree of gender dichotomy. I am not saying that a woman should take on a man’s role, but I am saying that the role But

**Simone Collins**:
the bible is saying a lot more about a woman’s role or... And range of work than I think what many traditional Christian couples would want

**Malcolm Collins**:
to be. The point I was gonna make is that... I I wouldn’t even say a lot of traditional Christians. I I think most traditional Christians actually grok this stuff.

**Simone Collins**:
I mean, performative... The ones that I see talking online don’t seem to

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. But the the the point I was going to make is that, historically, if we’re asking what are the roles of a woman, one of the roles of a woman, historically speaking, was often managing investments and the family finances. this is true across cultures. it it was so true that there was a major, like, stock market phenomenon called to Japan by all of the housewives investing on the stock market because

**Simone Collins**:
I’m just housewives. Yeah. Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
it’s it’s what we do in our family. In our family, Simone controls all the money. She controls all the investments. She is... She doesn’t have... I have final sale investments, but fundamentally, she controls and advises the investments. Right now, we’re doing a strategy of investment that is based on her investment hypothesis predominantly. And this is because I think of the things that women are good at, one of them surprisingly is investments. And

**Simone Collins**:
Which is weird because all of, like, the investment people online are dudes pretty much.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Well, now this might be my experience with you, and maybe it’s unique. But I think one of the reasons why women, in my experience, are better investors than men for the average family... Now if you’re talking about the very best of the best, it’s always gonna be men because men are on the outer edge of the of the curve. Right? But I’m talking on average.

**Simone Collins**:
Like, with anything pretty much

**Malcolm Collins**:
aside from having babies. Women grow less anxious from what I have seen than men when number goes down, and they get less greedy when number goes up.

**Simone Collins**:
For sure.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And when, you know, Bitcoin is is down, I’m always, oh, we should sell it. You know, we we can’t we can’t lose more money. You know, like, it could just take

**Simone Collins**:
a little sale. Women love a sale. Somehow girl meth sometimes turns out for investments. Who knew? Or... So I

**Malcolm Collins**:
think women are very, very good at that, and I think that it’s it’s good that the bible is pointing this out. And then it says, she sees her trading as profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. So what what is what is being said here? She’s profitable. And Oh

**Simone Collins**:
my god. I want a girl who gets up early. Want a girl who stays up late. I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity who uses a machete to cut through red tape.

**Malcolm Collins**:
that’s

**Simone Collins**:
biblical. That’s biblical wife. Yeah. It’s just him. It’s a him. Short skirt,

**Malcolm Collins**:
line jacket. Heard that song, and I was like, I want a wife like this. And apparently, somebody I

**Simone Collins**:
heard that song, and I was like, I want to be that woman.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. That’s that’s a bible wife. Right?

**Simone Collins**:
That’s a... It’s a And and note that

**Malcolm Collins**:
the the... What is meant here and her lamp does not go out at night, this isn’t saying... This isn’t, like, some random poetry or something. During that time period, your lamp not going out at night meant you were working after it was dark. Yeah. Okay? So it’s already said that she wakes up early. Okay?

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And she goes to sleep late. Alright? This mom is maybe not the stepmom you want. You know, like, hey. Are you working nonstop and making my son money? You can tell

**Simone Collins**:
she’s Jewish. Oh, not stepmom. Mother-in-law.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Oh, yeah. Mother-in-law. Yeah. Yeah. You can tell this was a Jewish mother-in-law. Right?

**Simone Collins**:
Coming over being like in law.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Are you making that money for my son?

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. Oh, boy. I was gonna say, this

**Malcolm Collins**:
is coming from the Jewish part of the bible, so they got some, you know, they got some some good stuff here.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
In her hand, she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. so note here, this is saying that she is producing clothing. what was a distaff?

**Simone Collins**:
Hey. I don’t know either. Distaff. A traditional hand spinning tool used to hold unspun fibers such as flax, wool, or cotton. Yeah. They did mention flax and wool. Right?

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. So saying that she’s making Stuff. Both the clothes. Stuff that you use to make clothes and the clothes itself, which is, you know, again, if you’re like, women don’t have jobs or whatever, shouldn’t have jobs, like, that’s a job. That’s a job. Like, you can make stuff just for your family, true, but in this period, what was normal in the corporate family is you would make extra and sell it. Right? Like, that was the way a lot of families oper... That wasn’t a way a lot. That was the way the normal family would have operated in the role of a normal woman or wife until very recently in a family.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. And I think that this is a very feminine thing that is good to have in a woman, but it is something that you as a husband will need to fight because I can tell you Simone is too far on this spectrum here. Also, Simone, you literally repair our kids’ teddy bears with a needle and thread. You repair our clothing, our blankets with a needle and thread. Very well. I’m just saying so far, this is a 100% you. Gosh. More valuable than rubies, Simone. More valuable than rubies, you are.

**Simone Collins**:
Rubies aren’t worth very much now that they can be lab grown. So Okay. But, yeah, yeah, a ruby’s not gonna lactate. A ruby’s not gonna bring you a child, so that’s true.

**Malcolm Collins**:
When it snows, she has no fear for her household for all of them are closed in scarlet. So this is saying they’re all they all have plenty to wear in the winter, which you make sure of as well. You get very worried about cold children.

**Simone Collins**:
It’s a mother thing. Look. You see in A Christmas Story how the mother dresses up her child so much that he can’t put his arms down because it’s a mother... You’re like, you can’t... There’s this visceral pain that a mother feels upon

**Malcolm Collins**:
the All the way back to the caged tombs of old.

**Simone Collins**:
Yes.

**Malcolm Collins**:
They they they too had these pains.

**Simone Collins**:
Yes. And they survived. Okay. Their children were okay because they didn’t freeze in the winter. Better to be warm than not.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Then she makes coverings for her bed. She is closed in fine linen and purple. So Not red and purple. Fancy. Yes. It’s very nice. But I... The the coverings of her bed... Note here, it doesn’t say that she makes anyone else’s bed.

**Simone Collins**:
It says she But they all kinda slept together, didn’t they? Kinda snuggle up.

**Malcolm Collins**:
I mean, it was for a king, so probably not.

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, well.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And Jewish kings often had lots of wives. So... You know?

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. I guess they can’t all fit in one bed. Like, that famous in bed in in England that, like, everyone wanted to sleep in that fit, like, few people. God husband? Animals in that.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Okay. Then it continues. Her husband is respected at the city gate where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. So note, the Jews had this court that they would hold at the city gate to to to do, like, legal stuff. it’s talking about this court. It’s basically saying that the husband is active in civil matters, and the wife is allowing him to be active in civil matters from the income that she’s bringing in and from She subsidizes his public service. Yep.

**Simone Collins**:
Okay.

**Malcolm Collins**:
She makes linen garments and sells them. Note here. It’s explicitly saying and sells them. She’s doing work. Okay? And supplies the merchants with sashes. So she’s making garments.

**Simone Collins**:
The merchants need their sashes. God forbid, they go out without a sash on.

**Malcolm Collins**:
What is also fascinating about this is this is the mother of a future king giving her son, the future king, advice. And I think that this is really important because it’s clear that this woman will not need money. She’s going to be the the king of the Jews, the queen of the Jews. Okay? Even not needing money, she is still not just investing like the type of money that can make manifold money, and that was listed earlier as even more important, but she is sowing and selling the things she sells to local merchants. This is a woman who is above all else a productive asset to the household. Busy. Busy. Again, when you say to somebody, you are not a child wife because you’re making money, that is wrong. That is not... That is nonbiblical. Okay? She is closed with strengths and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction on her tongue. Now note here, we have still not gotten to anything about acting, weak or acting, you know, overtly or performatively humble.

**Simone Collins**:
Pretty. We haven’t gotten to any of that yet.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Anything about prettiness. That is not an issue here Wow. Is apparently Jewish moms.

**Simone Collins**:
Okay.

**Malcolm Collins**:
The the note also, the idea that your wife can be submissive to you and still speak with wisdom with faithful instruction on her tongue. Like, that instruction is clearly meant for the husband. Right? It is this a woman who is going to give you good instruction. And men who think that a woman or their wife should never advise them or give them instructions are nonbiblical men. A woman should not teach a church. That does not mean that she should not instruct her husband in morality. Also, I do like the line, she is closed in strengths and dignity. Strength and dignity, it talks about before these other things, and she can laugh at the days to come. Oh, that’s Basically mean, like, when when life is hard, when you need strength and dignity, she doesn’t allow herself to become emotional. We have

**Simone Collins**:
to Also, she can find the humor in things. And one of my favorite things about life is that we laugh a lot. Right.

**Malcolm Collins**:
But I think that this brings us to one of the techno puritan sort of demands of our religion, one of the sins of our religion that a lot of people... You know, is is an actual biblical sin as we’re seeing here is to become... Like, allow the hardships in your life to emotionally affect the way that you appear to your family and those around you. Because acting sad, being sad only hurts your family members. it hurts your kids. It hurts the people who rely on you.

**Simone Collins**:
The people who you love most and the people who’d be best able to support you.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yes. And so this is what it’s talking about here. The acting with strengths and dignity and laughing at the days to come. It’s saying not just when life is hard, do you sit and grin and bear it, but you laugh at the days to come. Because that is something that is within your control. How you interpret the world around you is always within your control. How you interpret your challenges, is always within your control. and this is what we want from a wife. her chill She watches over the affairs of the household and does not eat the bread of idleness. So she’s not idle. Well, I mean, we already know because apparently she’s getting up early and going to bed late. her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. So, again, sometimes people are like, oh, Malcolm, you gas up Simone too much. You’re supposed to praise your wife. That should be normal. You should be normal praising your wife.

**Simone Collins**:
Aw. Malcolm.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting. But I know

**Simone Collins**:
The first time these things come up, which I thought were kind of a thing, they’re downplayed. They are...

**Malcolm Collins**:
Not downplayed. Scene is actively negative.

**Simone Collins**:
Wow. Beauty is pretty surprising.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And charm is deceptive.

**Simone Collins**:
Okay. Well

**Malcolm Collins**:
I I would note the beauty is fleeting. This is being said by a Jewish woman. And of the people who have women who age early Oh my pretty high on that list. Jewish women look old at fairly young. They... Know, like, there’s a joke about the Asian women where they, like, pop into, like, a different form. Like, they propose. Jewish women do the same thing. They they pupose into... Like, Eastern European women do the same thing as well.

**Simone Collins**:
That’s true. Yeah. That’s weird. Yeah. It’s like, you know, really hot young Slavic women or Asian women, and then it’s just like, wait.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And then they look like freaking Baba Yaga.

**Simone Collins**:
And then they... Yeah. Then then then then... Well, then there’s aunties and grandmas. Yeah. Like, there’s no... What happens in between? Do they just wake up one day? I really don’t know.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Well, I love that my wife is not of one of the... Well, no. She’s got a little Jew in her.

**Simone Collins**:
So... You know? 10%, dude. Yeah. You better watch out. Get ready. One day, you’re gonna wake up.

**Malcolm Collins**:
No. No. That was from your mom’s side, and it didn’t happen to your mom. So I don’t expect it to happen to you.

**Simone Collins**:
She aged astoundingly well. And remember, she had zero work done ever Yeah. Because she seems to have, like, my same weird genetic instinctual fear of body modification. Like, it feels like stolen valor. I feel like I could never even dye my hair because it would be stolen valor. I can’t pretend to be blonde. How dare I? I will never deserve to be blonde.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised, which is you. You have been the one driving all of the stricter saddest stuff with us.

**Simone Collins**:
And you were the one who who called it, and I was very grumpy about it. So I contest that slightly. But, yeah, I guess they’re they’re trying to point to priorities, which is a a woman prioritizing social manipulation or visual manipulation is is... It could... Not not ideal. And a woman who prioritizes god, who then clearly has her priorities and values in order and who’s going to lean in to good shared family goals is a better bet, clearly. I mean, obviously, if you marry a woman who’s obsessed with her appearance, especially depending on how you spend family funds, she she... She’ll spend tons of money on hair care, on makeup

**Malcolm Collins**:
She will ruin your family. Yes.

**Simone Collins**:
It’s... And it’s endless money. Like, the amount of money you can spend on looking good woman things is shocking, and I don’t really do that much.

**Malcolm Collins**:
The way that a techno puritan family manages jewelry, and I actually gave this... A Jewish guy asked me for advice on getting married. And he’s like, oh my god. We’re absolutely doing that after I gave him what what I recommend doing.

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, was it?

**Malcolm Collins**:
You and your wife sit down. So this isn’t just about going through and creating the, marriage contract, which I think is important to understand what’s expected of both of you. But you tell her, today, leading up to your wedding, you get to describe every piece of jewelry you ever want to own. in in your life, when you are an old woman, what jewels will you need? What necklaces will you need? What... You can describe what they look like. You can describe their shape. You can describe whatever you want, but you describe everyone you are going to want right now. And I will work to get those for you. But when we have the last of those, no more. That’s it

**Speaker 4**:
And, no, part of what’s important about this is you are describing what they look like. You are describing the look. You as a couple are designing this jewelry yourself. You are not basing it on some designer trend nor are you going to what is popular with some designer. You are building your own ideal of what is good jewelry for you in the future.

**Malcolm Collins**:
.

**Simone Collins**:
That’s it. Well, yeah, because you... We we have encountered people in our lives who had an endless voracious hunger for not only jewelry, but very expensive jewelry. People who at one point actually did sell literally a condo to buy Jewels. Jewels. To buy, yeah, jewelry, which is the kind of the opposite of what’s being described here. So, yeah,

**Malcolm Collins**:
this makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. And this is and and and I also note here that... So within the tech appear to... Women are allowed to want jewels. Okay? But they are all... They have to be practical about it. They have to want specific things for specific outfits that they may want one day. And and the reason why I think the wedding day is good is because, one, it’s... It creates a aspiration. It allows you to surprise her with things in the future. Yeah. You know at one point she wanted, and it also creates the moment where you’ve gotten her the last thing. And, also, it prevents her from being too greedy. You know? Because she’s laying it all out at once, it’s like, why do you need multiple pearl necklaces? Right? Like, you can create the multiple pearl necklace effect with three pearl necklaces. Do you really need more than three pearl necklaces? Why do you need more than one or four rings or something like that? Right? Like, you’ve... You you don’t... Are you gonna wear them at the same time? Do you need to change them every day just so everyone knows how rich you are?

**Simone Collins**:
For the record, they they do, and

**Malcolm Collins**:
they’re bad for doing it.

**Simone Collins**:
I know. It doesn’t look it doesn’t look great. but it’s a look. It’s a look.

**Malcolm Collins**:
but, anyway, I wanna go back over some alternate translations for some of these lines that I read here. one is she girds her loins when... With strengths and strengthens her arms. This is thirty one seventeen. So, again, it’s talking about a woman who is strong, like, physically strong, strengthens her arms. It’s it’s saying, good. That might be the only thing... Well, you hold babies all the time, so that’s strengthening your arms.

**Simone Collins**:
The the... These noodles have a surprising amount of... Maybe it’s all torque.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Who knows? And then another translation of the other line is charm is deceitful and beauty is vain. I I prefer beauty is fleeting, but... Yeah.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I... I’ve heard people on YouTube refer to it recently as glamour magic, and I kind of love that. Like, it’s a witchcraft. I’m like, no. It’s... But, yeah, it is, I guess. Yes and no.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And so the the last line of the thing here is honor her for all her hands have done and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. So this is saying two things about a wife. Okay? One, she’s doing all this work, and you need to honor her for it, or you are not being a good husband.

**Simone Collins**:
And let, I guess, let other people recognize her work so you’re not hiding her work. Because if she’s earning Yeah. So for it, that means other people are like, wow. Your wife makes a good sash.

**Malcolm Collins**:
The city gate isn’t just anything. Remember the city gate was referenced earlier where it said where the elders Where

**Simone Collins**:
all the civic stuff is happening.

**Malcolm Collins**:
It’s where all the civic elders are. So a lot of people out there, when they’re trying to tell you what a good trad wife should be, they will say that this is not a woman who should be known outside the household.

**Simone Collins**:
Right. Right. Right. The...

**Malcolm Collins**:
You know, okay. She can do a lot of work, but, like, the husband is still the only one who gets public credit for the work of the family. This says very explicitly that is an anti biblical take. The Yeah. That is... In fact, do you know what culture did that?

**Simone Collins**:
The Jews?

**Malcolm Collins**:
The Greek.

**Simone Collins**:
Oh oh, right. Sorry. Greeks and Romans were all like, no. Yeah. But she’s never seen

**Malcolm Collins**:
Greeks were very famously that the... You shouldn’t know you shouldn’t know a guy’s wife at all. You shouldn’t know about anything she’s done, anything

**Simone Collins**:
she never thought. Yeah. The best wife, you, like, don’t even know she’s there. You never see her.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. that is a pagan concept of trash. Oh,

**Simone Collins**:
is so interesting.

**Malcolm Collins**:
You are

**Simone Collins**:
actually called this like a witch. Because I used to I used to be like, look. Let’s just put you as the public face. I don’t... You know, we don’t need to be a joint face. Like, you’re doing... All these ideas are yours. Why would you, like, diminish your accomplish... My... Accomplishment by, like, on the books, making me a coauthor when I just helped to edit them. And you insisted so much on having cobilling on all this. And I guess on this particular fight, we should be right.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Known and and and liked by the community. Right? Like, that’s what he’s saying.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. I guess you intuitively understood this. I I did not.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Because I was being biblical. I intuited being biblical.

**Simone Collins**:
You’re intuitively being biblical. Amazing. Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. Well, it’s it’s it’s, like, with the 10 commandments and stuff like this, now that I’ve started taking them seriously. I love so. There’s so many people don’t take them seriously. it’s like, god sent down only 10 rules. Okay? It’s like just these 10 rules. Okay, guys? Can you deal with 10? And they’re so important, you’ve gotta put them in a giant arc and carry them around all the time. Everyone there could remember 10 rules. Okay? Yeah. But they just needed to make extra sure that you understood these are extra important rules. Unfortunately, I’ve intuitively followed most of them. Like, the hardest one for most people is honoring your father and mother, and I’ve always done that intuitively. I’ve never had a problem with that. The ones that I had the big problem with was following the Sabbath and the lord’s name in vain. And I wanna study the lord’s name in vain more because I don’t know if that makes total sense to me the way

**Simone Collins**:
it’s normally interpreted. People have have written to us or given us some thought on this, and it’s not necessarily, oh my god, as being a mistake, but maybe using specific biblical names for... That are used for for god. The the one that starts with y, for example.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. The the one that starts with y,

**Simone Collins**:
invoking the name of god in vain, which is to say praying to him or asking god for trivial things or, you know, being like the help.

**Malcolm Collins**:
That... I I don’t think that’s it because praying is talked about elsewhere. What I think this is is, like, praying is clearly something that a good person does. So clearly

**Simone Collins**:
See, I don’t I don’t know about this because there’s the... Like, these these other things, I think, in Leviticus where, you know, if a if a widow or orphan cries out to god after you wronged them, then really bad things happen to you. And that kind of sounds to me like invoking god. So I got this impression from putting those two things together that there are people who invoke god, who cry out to god in distress or in need. And if you do so for trivial things that could be blaspheming Two notes here.

**Malcolm Collins**:
One is the widow and orphan thing. That just made me realize that might be why god did go with the kill them all strategy in some of these historic battles is because not killing them all created widows and orphans, which caused people who just suffer and slowly die. That may have been part of the intent there. But the... Which would have happened in a historic context. But the second point here is, I think it might actually be referring to trying to use the lord’s name. Now it clearly means the y word. Right? Because that was the word that the Jews kept considered as super sacred. Yeah. So much so that we don’t even know the correct pronunciation of it anymore. It was...

**Simone Collins**:
Really?

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. It’s... We’ve guessed it. The one that you’ve heard is... I can... I’ll talk about it in another episode how they came up with it, but we don’t know how it was actually pronounced. Where do

**Simone Collins**:
Actually, there’s so many really interesting details in the bible that I didn’t know about in terms of names in general where early biblical authors would, for lack of a better term, vandalize the names of, for example, other bad gods. So I think necessarily named those I think what’s being talked about here

**Malcolm Collins**:
is using god and prayer for spells. Like, attempting to use god’s

**Simone Collins**:
name what blaspheming was

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yes. And I’ll tell you why I think that that’s what it was about. I think it was about that because that’s actually an important and useful rule that would be really important to people living good lives and is a temptation that would be normal for, Christians and Jews of later periods.

**Simone Collins**:
Like, kind of like another form of idolatry where you think you can use god to do things for your bidding that are kind of trivial?

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yes. Well, any... Anything you do with a spell is kind of trivial. So it’s very different from... It’s it’s magic that attempts to use god. That’s what I think is being talked about there because that would be a meaningful rule. Whereas a... Not saying a name that nobody even knows, I don’t think that that’s what’s meant there.

**Simone Collins**:
Right? It does seem very odd to have off limits words. that does seem strange

**Malcolm Collins**:
to I think it’s against using the fact that you are using god’s name to try to make a mysticism okay, which a lot of people have done historically. They’ve been like Yeah.

**Simone Collins**:
So using god’s name witchcraft

**Malcolm Collins**:
because I say god first. This isn’t, you know

**Simone Collins**:
And there are a lot of Christian occultists who try until they finally read the right passage to to justify it. It’s like, no. This is Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
That’s what I think is being talked about there. Okay.

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, well, yeah. We’re... But I could understand how those same people would have thought, well, I’m not saying, oh my god. I’m not saying

**Malcolm Collins**:
Well, I’ve definitely never had that problem. I have never Yeah. Been tempted to use the

**Simone Collins**:
Well, just because it’s in line with your intuition doesn’t mean it’s not the correct interpretation. But I do think you’re onto something.

**Malcolm Collins**:
It’s not that it’s in line with my intuition. It’s that if it was one of the 10 commandments, it has to be because the... Therefore, man was made for... Sorry. Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. All of the 10 commandments are supposed to have a positive effect in your Okay? Yeah. So it has to be something that has a significant positive effect in

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, and how does not saying a word have a positive effect in your life?

**Malcolm Collins**:
How does not saying a word that nobody knows have a positive effect in your life? Okay? Why is that this big important thing? Whereas... And I don’t think God would be so trivial as to care if you use the term God in reference to him or the term Jesus in reference to Jesus in the wrong way. Right? Like, I think that would... That that would seem like a trivial thing. that’s not really gonna have a big negative effect on your life or have a negative effect on your community or... But would have an incredibly big negative effect, and we’ve seen it over and over and over against our Christian history and Jewish history is just saying, god... I’m doing it for god. Therefore, I can do whatever, and then do the occultism. Then do the tarot card reading. Then do the... You know? That would be useful a useful and meaningful rule. And so that’s why I think that that’s that’s what’s probably being talked about there.

**Simone Collins**:
Interesting.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Okay. To continue here with other examples from the bible, we’re not just relying on this one. So we’ve got Ruth three eleven. Bo says to Ruth, of all the people of my town to know that you are a woman of... And then this word, army.

**Simone Collins**:
You’re a

**Malcolm Collins**:
you’re a... An army of a woman. Right? A robust woman. Yes. And then this term is is later flipped back around and used for him. So, for context here, Ruth is not praised for delicacy or passivity. She is praised in the same category of capability and character that is mostly used for men. In Jewish tradition, the book of Ruth is often read right after Proverbs and is... So the narrative is treated as a living illustration of Proverbs’ ideals. Okay? So clearly, again, this is the good wife. Proverbs twelve four, a army of a woman is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones. so here, it’s clear that a a woman of strengths and capability and respected by the community is not somebody who brings shame to her husband, but there is a type of woman that would bring shame to you, and those are bad.

**Simone Collins**:
Now

**Malcolm Collins**:
let’s go to the New Testament here to be like, okay. Is the New Testament saying anything different? Okay. So we’ve got, Titus two three two five. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderous or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good and so to train young women to love their husbands and children and to have self control. Be pure, work at home, kind, and submissive to their husbands. That is the word of god, and may it not be reviled. Now a lot of people take this line to say, like, well, in Christianity, now women have to work from home. I think the working here is the more important part of that line.

**Speaker 14**:
so I looked up, like, what the actual translation of this means, and it’s... A better translation probably would have been keeper of the home. It’s meant to contrast with a woman who is idle at home. It in no way means that her only work is inside of the household. That is not that is not a realistic translation of this.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And keep in mind that even the women who were working in the first poem would have been doing it out of their home. They are making clothing and selling it, which is the primary part of that work is done at home. And then they are doing land speculation, which sort is of like being a real estate agent, which, again, can mostly be done from home. I am okay with saying that women should have jobs that are, where being at home is the dominant place that that job is done. But then that fits you perfectly, and it fits trad wife influencers perfectly. I suppose. Yeah. Timothy five nine through 10. let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than 60 years of age and having the wife of one husband and having a reputation for good works. If she has brought up children and shown hospitality and washed the feet of saints, she has cared for the afflictive, and she has devoted herself to every good work.

**Simone Collins**:
Well, that’s pretty snobby to wash the feet of only saints. you know, you’re gonna pass over most people.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. But is... What is really being talked about here is a woman who is dedicated to the community. Right? That’s that’s... She caring for the afflicted and devoting yourself to good works and showing hospitality. Obviously, the first work of a woman is to bring up good children, but all of these other works, are work. They’re not they’re not a woman who is chained up at home. A woman who is caring for the afflicted is a woman who, so let’s consider. There’s a war or something like this. what is a woman to do if she is a good woman? Is she to stay in the house, or is she to go act as a medic? Right? This is saying that acting to care for wounded soldiers would be a thing of valor for a woman to do, a Christian woman to do. then we have one Peter three one three six. Likewise, be subject to your husbands. It says that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives. When they see your respectful and pure conduct, Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of golden jewelry or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. No. We’re gonna go over different translations for gentle and quiet because this is actually a pretty bad translation here. which in god’s sight is very precious. For this is how holy women who helped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling to him, Lord, and you are her children in... If you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. So to continue with the gentle, mild note here, the word translated here is mild is the word that is translated as meek when Jesus says, I am gentle and have a lowly heart in Matthew eleven twenty nine. So that’s that’s the word that’s being used here. Oh, or blessed are the meek.

**Simone Collins**:
It’s word that’s being like

**Malcolm Collins**:
chill. It it does not mean, like, weak or passive, but it also is not an aggressive term. It means more like not easily provoked, having a high amount of self control. So it’s saying... And and then for the second word here that is... Transit is is quiet, still, tranquil, peaceful, undisturbed, it’s it’s it’s... The the the the... A more accurate translation here would be who has the self control to not become emotional, which is a very important trait in woman. So if we’re going to then reread this in terms of, like, should you date women who, like, dress up in a lot of fancy clothes and everything like this? Should this be something that you as a woman aspire to? do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a woman who has self control and does not become emotional. what great advice is that? When you when you translate it out of of, I think, the the mistranslated meek that implies passive and stuff like this? And I also think for Jesus, you know, when Jesus says... You know, talks about the meek, he’s talking about people with self control, not the the, weak people. Right? Like, that’s not what he’s implying there. Right?

**Speaker 5**:
I actually think a lot... Many, many parts of the bible are talking about, uplifting or looking positively on people with self control or self control being what’s expected of us. And these are the parts that are most aggressively rewritten or written over or translated in ways to mean other things. The bible is really a book about how much better your life is gonna be if you have personal self control. There... I mean, there’s there’s obviously other things to it, but having personal self control is one of the largest underlying themes when you look up alternate translations to words that don’t seem to Make sense where they’re put.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Then Timothy two nine through 10. Likewise, also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire. And then what are

**Simone Collins**:
you supposed to do with your hair?

**Malcolm Collins**:
With what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works. Simone, I don’t think having your hair up is a problem. I do think berating it is a problem. And I think that... I know you love braiding our daughter’s hair, and you can braid our daughter’s hair so they look like cute little daughters.

**Simone Collins**:
Look. If you don’t... If... One, I’m sure they didn’t mean let your hair down. Because at least historically, a woman’s hair worn down was considered her most alluring and sexually explicit characteristics. Yeah. Jews would

**Malcolm Collins**:
take out the woman’s hair. This is why Jews cover their hair, because they’d, like, reveal a woman’s hair if she was suspected of adultery.

**Simone Collins**:
So hair is not clearly not to be worn down, probably veiled or covered otherwise, like, you have to put it up.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Is the context of this. So this is, you know, in in a a a Greek world, how did women braid their hair in the Greek world in Roman?

**Simone Collins**:
Right. I mean, there were there were such elaborate braids. So maybe what they mean by braiding is, like, the stuff that you need an assistant to do

**Malcolm Collins**:
that I think it means elaborate hairstyles. So within a modern context, this would say that as a Christian woman, you should not go to salons. You should not do, you know, like,

**Simone Collins**:
big fancy Just, like, get your hair out of the way. Get your hair

**Malcolm Collins**:
out of the way and get ready to work because that’s your role in life. Yeah. Yeah. And then secondarily, I mean, we see this in two places that women should not wear jewelry. I’m I’m okay with saying I’m not gonna have another hard rule within technopuritanism that women can’t have jewelry, but I think that you should, as a woman, aspire to be the type of woman that doesn’t need jewelry.

**Simone Collins**:
Well, once you become a parent, if you’re an active parent of young children, you

**Malcolm Collins**:
are not going to wear much. And and I will note here that it doesn’t ban all jewelry. In both of these places, it’s ex... It’s explicitly about, pointlessly expensive jewelry. In in both cases, pictures back

**Simone Collins**:
then were,

**Malcolm Collins**:
like Gold jewelry and pearls. It it was just gold jewelry twice and then pearls.

**Simone Collins**:
So I think extremely... You know, it’s not... It’s it’s the girl with the pearl earring, not the girl with the pearl earrings. Let’s not

**Malcolm Collins**:
get too stunny. Here’s what I’m okay with making an explicit ban on. Okay? Okay. Is designer jewelry. This is jewelry that because of a brand name is expensive. Unless it’s a family heirloom loom, then I I make an exception.

**Simone Collins**:
No. I think family heirlooms are great. Well, also So family heirloom is jewelry that you didn’t pay for. One my favorite parts.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Of family heirlooms, I do I do think that you you cannot really sit right with what’s being taught to us in the bible and have the modern version of gold slash pearls, which is to say that golden pearls would actually be okay. If you go and you get a gold ring made for you just like a generic gold ring or you get a a a pearl necklace made for you, that’s okay because those things are actually, like, fairly modest and cheap. I don’t know. And and a woman can still feel like she has jewelry from a societal perspective.

**Speaker 15**:
Specifically here, this is about reading what’s intended by a bible verse rather than being overly strict. Like, imagine you read this verse and you’re just like, okay. No gold jewelry and no pearls, but I can have $500,000 whatever, you know, million dollar designer, whatever. Clearly, the intention here is to not waste your money on things that adorn you. Now that the civilizational context has changed and gold isn’t that particularly expensive, a gold ring isn’t that expensive. If a gold ring became expensive again, then, of course, this would reapply. This is what we talk about was, like, literalism while not being an idiot about it. Right? And, of course, you can tell this is where techno puritanism becomes a high demand religion or a cult clearly because I’m making requirements of people that they not waste their money on designer jewelry. But, no, I think that it’s it’s really important that we read what’s intended here. Do not waste money or time on adorning yourselves or on what you look like. In fact, I would say more than an attack on, in a modern context, a gold ring, This is an attack on transness, for example. Like, spending a ton of time and money on attempting to look a different way. It’s an attack on anything that is that particularly indolent where you are saying, I am going to spend a huge amount of my time, not not not necessarily even just money, thinking about how I appear to other people. I I would also say that this could be seen as a prohibition on extreme forms of, subculture, you know, like, tons of piercings, tons of tattoos, anything like that. It’s it’s saying you should not be focused on that, and I think it’s a good warning and a good advice for life to not be focused on that type of thing.

**Malcolm Collins**:
but anything

**Simone Collins**:
Is that valuable? Like, who... For whom is this jewelry? Like, I can’t even wear the jewelry that I wanted and wore daily before I had kids because now if I wore it today

**Malcolm Collins**:
I’m saying aspirationally, a techno puritan woman would want no jewelry at

**Simone Collins**:
all. Yeah. Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Okay. But, I mean, even you’re wearing pearls right now.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. I’m a really like them.

**Malcolm Collins**:
I can I can see them in shot? but I I think if you if you want to make, like, an easy, hard, absolutely never go there, it’s buying designer jewelry. And I think this is an easy thing to come with your wife and just be like, well, also, it’s

**Simone Collins**:
so stupid to do it because you’re paying a huge markup for a brand that is not worth it. Like, the wedding... The engagement ring that you had made for me was made by a man who used to design jewelry for Tiffany’s and then just left, and we could just buy designs from him and his whole team. Like... And you got it at a fraction of the price. And the same ring, if we had bought it from Tiffany’s, would be twice as much.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Actually, I... Make an easier, like, broader just rule here that I think is useful. If you already own it or you inherited it, it’s fine. Yeah. But designer clothing and things more generally, I I would ban

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, like brand... Branded? Yeah. Instead of just like, I need a well made shirt. I need well made socks. You’re not gonna, like, I’m gonna go get whatever this... The stock of the day is. I don’t know what the stock of the

**Malcolm Collins**:
day is. What... Any... Anything... I think that that’s the intention of these, and I think that’s a very good intention. Okay. Fair. Do not buy designer anything going forward. It is... There there is always a cheaper alternative. You are paying for a name, and you are paying to try to alter people’s opinion of you so that you appear more something. And it’s something that that in... There... There’s really no context where you shouldn’t feel okay being a little bit embarrassed being the one person who’s not

**Simone Collins**:
in a design or something. Well, I think there’s something to dressing respectfully for any of You can always dress respectfully without designer stuff. Yeah. You’re like, yeah, there... There’s no instance in which you you can show up... Like, not showing up without jewelry will signal a lack of respect for the event. Black tie all the way down. White tie all the way down. You can show up to an event and be respectful without jewelry. This is true for both men and women. Yeah. This is true. That’s weird. That’s interesting. Well... And you can show up

**Malcolm Collins**:
to any event with a nondesigner and still look good.

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, 100%,

**Malcolm Collins**:
obviously. A nondesigner tux. You can get a nondesigner... You know? Or you can have something made for you if you have to. Right? Go to Etsy. They will create a distinct style for techno puritans, which is something that you want in

**Simone Collins**:
individual people as long as you avoid the the Chinese resellers.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And then the final bit I’m gonna talk about here is how women should dress. Okay. Corinthians, eleven five through 15. But every woman who prays or prophesizes with her head uncovered dishonors her head. It is the same as having her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off. But it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off her head shaved Oh. Then she could cover her

**Simone Collins**:
head.

**Malcolm Collins**:
A man ought to not cover his head since he is the image and glory of god. But a woman

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, so is this where the the whole Jew wig thing started? No. This is Christian. This is a Christian. Wait. What? Sorry. This is... Oh, you said Corinthians. Is that what you said?

**Malcolm Collins**:
This is this is why Catholics often wear veils in church.

**Simone Collins**:
Only in church? And is this saying in church, or is this saying always? It explicitly says

**Malcolm Collins**:
every woman who prays or prophesizes with her head uncovered. And it’s because the woman So when

**Simone Collins**:
you, like

**Malcolm Collins**:
supposed to be a glory to her husband

**Simone Collins**:
You put on

**Malcolm Collins**:
your What?

**Simone Collins**:
Praying hat.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Praying hat. Yeah. Now you you could go further with this and say that a woman’s head needs to be covered at all times. Some groups have gone further with it, but I I think that this is just talking abrupt prayer. and then to continue here, it says, for man did not come from woman, but woman for man, neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. It is for this reason that A woman ought to have authority over her own head because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the lord, woman is not independent of man nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman, but everything comes from god. Judge for yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to god with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory for long hair is given to

**Simone Collins**:
her as a covering? Wait. Did... Wait. Is Corinthians dunking on Jesus’ hair?

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. Jesus definitely did not have long hair. Just to clear. And as a Christian man, you are not supposed to have long hair. Like, this

**Simone Collins**:
is clear. What? Oh my

**Malcolm Collins**:
god. A lot of a lot

**Simone Collins**:
of mistake. Every Mormon household with, like, the Jesus Mormon. Mind blown.

**Speaker 6**:
Well, we often don’t think about it this way. I think someone makes a point here, which is that even Mormons are super, super prone to idolatry.

**Simone Collins**:
A mistake that a lot of

**Malcolm Collins**:
Christians make is they are aware of Samson, and Samson got power from long hair. What?

**Simone Collins**:
Wait. a Rapunzel? Was he the OG Rapunzel? What is what is happening

**Malcolm Collins**:
right now? He was a Nazarite. and this is the point that everybody gets wrong. Okay. Nazarites were a collection of vows that you would undertake as a Jew in a traditional context.

**Simone Collins**:
Okay.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And the long hair wasn’t so much one of those vows. I mean, it was, and that was important, the don’t let a blade touch your skin to cut your hair. Yeah. Anywhere on your body. But it was the sign that you were doing the vows. And the other vows were more important. The other vows were you don’t touch dead bodies or animals, and you don’t drink alcohol. And the reason why you would grow out the long hair... What... Why are you posting this? Everybody knows that you have

**Simone Collins**:
long getting hair. A closer look at it. I... This is this is all wrong then. Yes. Where Okay. So to be a Nazarite, you’re saying, or a what? You had to have So

**Malcolm Collins**:
if you were a Nazarite, if you take the Nazarite vows, okay, it meant that you were doing a number of things. And part of the purpose of growing out your hair during the Nazarite vows is so that other people would know that you were doing them and so that they can be like, bro, why are you drinking with us? You you can’t do that.

**Simone Collins**:
You’re Nazarite right now. Okay. Okay. So it was like... Yeah. Like, gosh. What’s a... I... Like, wearing a wedding ring and people being like, I’m not gonna date you. You’re married. Or

**Malcolm Collins**:
There is absolutely no way Jesus was doing Nazarite vows because Jesus drank regularly.

**Simone Collins**:
Right. Oh my goodness gracious. What? So... Okay. He definitely did not have a... Not have long hair.

**Malcolm Collins**:
So, yeah, Jesus did... And and the other thing that we know

**Simone Collins**:
He’s gonna bother me so much going forward. Even if he was doing a Nazarite thing

**Malcolm Collins**:
or had a very unusual haircut. The way, you should ask Google when they started doing that and why so we got an answer for people. If if you look at the scene when they’re asking him to point out Jesus using a kiss so that they know who Jesus is. Woah.

**Simone Collins**:
Woah. A kit... What what what do

**Malcolm Collins**:
I This when the Roman soldiers are going to arrest Jesus. Okay. And they tell Judas, you need to tell us which is the right guy by By kissing him? Yes. On the Sorry.

**Simone Collins**:
I’m still in the Old Testament. Okay? I’m rusty.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yes. so he he gets to him. He would only need to do that if Jesus looked like a normal person during that period.

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, right. Yeah. He... They could’ve be like the guy with the long hair.

**Malcolm Collins**:
If he had long hair, he could have said the guy with the long hair because that was not normal during that period, especially if he wasn’t like a normal Nazarite and he had, like, a normal facial beard otherwise. so, no, you... I’m okay with a Christian if they’re actually gonna take the Nazarite vows... Doing the Nazarite vows. I don’t think that’s a problem biblically speaking, but, like, it’s... I think it’s pretty clear here that you’re not supposed to have long hair.

**Simone Collins**:
Okay. So Jesus began to be depicted with long hair around AD three hundred in the late third or early fourth century, but it was a gradual change, not a sudden replacement of short haired images. The familiar long haired bearded appearance became established in Eastern Christianity by the sixth century, while Western artists continued using multiple appearances for centuries. So from... When you look at surviving images of Jesus from the third century AD, like, so in the two hundreds, they show a youthful, short haired, beardless Jesus. The good one. This is completely opposite from the Jesus I’ve been doing all my life. An early example is the painting of Jesus healing a paralytic at Dura Europos dated to about 8235. Sorry. I know we’re we’re supposed to be talking about Tom girls. Tom boys? Tom girls. Tom boys? Tom boys?

**Malcolm Collins**:
Tom boys is

**Simone Collins**:
my turn. However, this is so interesting. You can’t, like, see him super well, but there’s a guy. He’s got short hair and no beard, and I don’t know what’s going on with this paralytic. It looks like the the woman on the on the college campus is carrying around her mattress. But, yeah, it shows, Jesus. He’s wearing, you know, he’s wearing Jesus style robes, so that is that is remained consistent. But it’s clearly a dude with short hair and no beard. I am mind blown here.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Well, I think this is one of the dangers of icons is they misrepresent reality, and they can cause you to imagine a a world and and and compete in your mind with what is biblical.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. Wow. But, anyway Why did artists get him on here? Say across the board. The changes appear to have been about conveying Jesus’ identity and authority rather than preserving information about his haircut. Artists drew on existing Greco Roman visual traditions, long haired bearded gods such as Zeus and Jupiter thing. Images of philosophers and the enthroned ruler, these offered ways to portray Jesus as divine, wise, and sovereign. Scholars, they’re like, well, I don’t know if I can respect him. Let’s make him look more like pagan gods. What are you doing? Oh my god.

**Malcolm Collins**:
It’s it’s... The the amount of paganism that has seeped into the iterations of Christianity that, I think just like LARPistrad, it’s it’s... I I personally find it gross. Everybody knows I find it gross. it’s it’s not it’s non school.

**Simone Collins**:
Well, right. Like like Christmas being on a holiday in December 25, it was, like, devoted to multiple other gods at various points, and that’s messed up. Jesus being styled like Zeus. Oh my goodness, people.

**Malcolm Collins**:
No. The the Christmas one. I’m sorry. We don’t... We have a whole episode on this. That’s just an urban legend. There’s an episode on it.

**Simone Collins**:
Christmas came But we don’t know when Jesus was born. Why was it chosen to overlap with a bunch of pagan holidays?

**Malcolm Collins**:
Christmas was not a repurposed pagan holiday. What

**Simone Collins**:
about in Australia?

**Malcolm Collins**:
it was, go to our episode on it. We talk about this for literally, like, an hour and a half. We go over chunks of receipts.

**Simone Collins**:
No memory. December 17 to December 23. Look.

**Speaker 7**:
What you will learn if you watch the episode is that the earliest evidence we have of Christians celebrating on this date predates the earliest evidence we have of a sol Invictus holiday on this date, and the earliest evidence we have of a sol Invictus holiday on this date comes from Christian communities.

**Speaker 9**:
As for Sedanalia, which she’s talking about here, it never included December 25 in anything that we’re aware of. It originally was on December 17, and it ran through December 23, but never in any record that we’re aware of included December 25.

**Speaker 8**:
My life has been a lie. God is dead. The government’s lame. Thanksgiving is about killing Indians. Jesus wasn’t born on Christmas. They moved the date. It was a pagan holiday.

**Simone Collins**:
That’s pretty close. Welcome.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Look up our episode on this. Okay, Simone? That is that is for you right now if you’re interested. Go watch that episode. We go over it in detail. People. People got so mad at us bursting that urban legend. Yeah. people got so mad at us bursting that urban legend.

**Simone Collins**:
Then why did they arbitrarily choose that time of the year of all times?

**Malcolm Collins**:
Look at our episode.

**Simone Collins**:
Do you wanna ask Can you tell me?

**Malcolm Collins**:
What we said? We went over it for an hour. I don’t remember.

**Simone Collins**:
Oh, okay.

**Malcolm Collins**:
It’s been a long time. We recorded the episode like a year and a half ago. All I remember is that the evidence was overwhelming that it was not based on Saturnalia. Okay. That it was not based on any pagan tradition, that all of the the the vast majority of the links that people try to use to link it to pagan traditions came about in, like, the eighteen fifties

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
And have nothing to do with, like, the Christmas tree and the yule log and all of that.

**Simone Collins**:
Those things. I ain’t... I am letting go of that that nonsense, whatever it is.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Very little to do with anything that could be linked to pagan traditions.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. Okay.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Fair. Love you, Sloane. And if you’re watching this and maybe it’s something you’re curious about, I will try to remember to make it one of the recommended videos for you. But if not, you have fans and you know how to use Google. Check it out so you can get angry at us for breaking your childhood myth that

**Simone Collins**:
I hope that you were celebrating a pagan holiday for Christmas.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Well, the other one is Easter. Easter is also not in any way pagan. That... That’s the other one where people get very confused.

**Simone Collins**:
I’ve learned nothing. I’ve learned nothing. I’m gonna forget that God told us to marry tomboyants as well, obviously.

**Malcolm Collins**:
The number of... Especially Christians who crashed out learning that it wasn’t pagan in origin was really funny. Yeah. I think you’d, like, buy into these. But with a lot of this stuff with Sahara and stuff like this, I think it’s very important to not buy into the urban legends, to not buy into the the typical descriptions and to, you know, really earnestly search for what is existentially true.

**Simone Collins**:
All these people cosplaying as Jesus were cosplaying as Zeus. We’re just I know in that super offensive when you think about it. It’s it’s deeply offensive. Imagine imagine. Right? Imagine you are, you know, the historical Jesus and, you know, you you die on the cross. You you sins, etcetera. And then you you come back. It’s the year 2026. And on every Mormon household wall, there’s there’s You’ll

**Malcolm Collins**:
able to go into a a, you know, an Orthodox church, and it’s like that theme.

**Simone Collins**:
And you’re like, who... Who’s... Why why are the... Why the pagan worship? Why the

**Malcolm Collins**:
pagan worship? Pagan pictures of

**Simone Collins**:
all the wall. What did... That’s Zeus on the cross where... Hi. Hello? Why do you

**Malcolm Collins**:
have pagan pictures everywhere? Yeah. Like, what’s going on with this? Did it... Were we pretty clear about the no icon thing?

**Speaker 13**:
And if you’re like, well, no. It says no idols, not no icons. It’s like, well, I mean, they sound like the same thing to me, and this is what we’re talking about when we’re talking about what I think the blasphemy line is actually about. Where just because you put the word god in front of, you know, witchcraft or a spell or icon or an idol, it doesn’t make it okay. Right? Like, you you can’t just say, well, I’m doing x bad thing for god. Therefore, it’s good.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Anyway Also,

**Simone Collins**:
the whole thing, Jesus on the cross and all these churches, I’ve never been okay with that. I’ve never been... And, like, why are they... I know... Okay. Because because of his sacrifice, we have to remember it. But, like, I don’t know. Just if I if I I

**Malcolm Collins**:
don’t think that he would be super stoked about that.

**Simone Collins**:
It wasn’t his favorite moment.

**Malcolm Collins**:
I mean, especially given, you know, my god. My god. Why have you forsaken me? Yeah. He wasn’t he wasn’t thinking, I’m chadding it up right now.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. Like, this is the snapshot. Yeah. This is when, you know, for the history books, this is the look I want right here.

**Malcolm Collins**:
To be half naked and nailed to a pole.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. And, like, you know what? When when I want a woman to show her devotion to me, I want her to wear a necklace of the thing that hurt a lot all the time. And She loves me, and so she’ll wear the torture device that was used on important.

**Malcolm Collins**:
He also noted, make sure I’m always depicted half naked. Half naked and dying. Great.

**Simone Collins**:
Great. Well, more than half naked. I would say he was, like, 89% naked.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Naked in most of the depictions.

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. I don’t Yeah.

**Malcolm Collins**:
That’s not awesome. Anyway... And why’d they have to go with naked? That was a weird... That was a weird... Very bad.

**Simone Collins**:
Actually didn’t have him wear red robes or something when he was being crucified because they were mocking him as, like, a whole, like, fake king thing.

**Speaker 11**:
So, depending on the gospel you’re reading, he was put in red or purple robes, but these were taken by the guards before crucifying him. So he actually likely would have been entirely naked when crucified. This was meant to humiliate the crucifixion victims when they were being crucified. but, again, probably not the look you’d want on, you know, the my scene moment of your life.

**Simone Collins**:
Oh my goodness.

**Malcolm Collins**:
I love

**Simone Collins**:
you too. I love you too. Bye. It’s so... It’s like having a genie. That’s what vibe coding is. It’s like, hey, genie. I wish. Except that there’s... I mean, I... The wishes are only limited to how much money you could spend, I guess. Genie for pay, genie for hire. It’s so amazing. You you don’t know this, but with this tablet thing that you’ve set up on Mudpuppy for kids, you’ve basically created a young lady’s illustrated primer, this this amazing device described in Neil Stevenson’s diamond age. You just don’t know it because you’ve never read that book. No. But, like, it’s the it’s the it’s the pivot point of this book where this techno feudal element of society called, like... I think it’s... They’re they’re, like, called the Neo Victorians. One neo Victorian man commissions the ultimate reading... Sorry. The ultimate educational device for his daughter or something. And a man makes it and then goes through very illegal lengths to try to copy it just so that his daughter can have access to the most privileged education of all time. And it... It’s it’s basic... It’s a... It looks like a book, but it’s it’s just adapted to sort of educate your kid along with, you know, with them and in a way that’s very customized to them, and that is what you are building. And it’s insane to me that you’re building young baby’s illustrated primer. Works now. It works now. And our

**Malcolm Collins**:
kids are able to do it, and the AI companion feature is so fucking cool. We’ve gotta teach the kids about it because they’ve gotta sort of understand that they can push that button and have it talk about whatever they’re working on.

**Simone Collins**:
Well, it only just appeared today. I was playtesting other elements of them... Of it with them just now, but they really like the they really like the games and

**Malcolm Collins**:
People really don’t know if you wanna download this. It’s free to use except for, like, when they’re using things that cost us money, in which point we charge a 50% margin. And it is the... And and a very little on this actually, like, costs us money. So most of it’s gonna be free for you. You take any old Android device you have and... You know, I’ll make an easier way to get to the Mudpuppy app. What what do wanna call the Mudpuppy app or the Mudpuppy system?

**Simone Collins**:
The tablet OS? Mudpuppy OS.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Mudpuppy OS. Okay. I’m gonna do this right now to make it easier to reach. So can go to mudpuppy.aibackslashos. Okay. Just throwing some stuff in there. Alright. It is just like a genie, though. Like you said, it’s just like magic. Like

**Simone Collins**:
Yeah. Like, can we do this? Hey. Could we have that?

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. Can my kids... Yeah. I’ve always wanted my kids to have a tablet where, like, they can watch shows and earn points and then watch other shows.

**Simone Collins**:
I wish. I wish. Stuff.

**Malcolm Collins**:
Yeah. We went through today, we found out that the AI had accidentally added some woke stuff. So we’re going through, we’re cleaning out all the wokeness from the system. Oh. Also decided to track what shows parents like to add or remove so we know we can make the defaults better. Alright.

**Speaker 12**:
Oh, Tyson, you ran into me. Sorry.