Proverbs 25:23
in Proverbs 25As the north wind brings forth rain, so a backbiting tongue brings angry looks.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The north wind bringeth forth rain; So doth a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.
KJV
The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
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This verse in Proverbs 25
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe north wind driveth away rain,.... So the geographer (w) says, the swift north wind drives away the moist clouds; which usually come from the opposite quarter, the south.
This site's exposition
The north wind driveth away rain
The north wind driveth away rain, so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue draws on the weather patterns of the land, a north wind there commonly clearing the sky, to picture a firm and visibly displeased face silencing a talebearer before he can finish his work. Delitzsch reads the proverb as counsel for anyone who must sit in company with a backbiter, since a plainly disapproving look does what argument often cannot.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
"The north wind drives away rain," etc. If you listen with a cheerful face to a slanderer, you give him fuel for slandering; but if you listen with a gloomy face, as a certain man said, he will learn not willingly to say what he …
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The marginal reading is far more accurate and gives a better sense. The northwest wind in Palestine commonly brings rain, and this was probably in the thought of the writer.
The north wind driveth away rain - The margin has, “The north wind bringeth forth rain.” It is said that the “north wind brings forth rain at Jerusalem, because it brings with it the vapours arising from the sea that lies north of it.” The marginal is the true reading; and is supported by the Chaldee, Syriac, and Septuagint; but the Arabic reads south wind. A backbiting tongue - A hidden tongue.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ר֣וּחַ | ruach | a wind of | H7307 → | 378 times |
| צָ֭פוֹן | tzafon | [the] north | H6828 → | |
| תְּח֣וֹלֵֽל | techolel | it brings forth | H2342 → | 58 times |
| גָּ֑שֶׁם | gashem | rain | H1653 → | |
| וּפָנִ֥ים | ufanim | and faces | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| נִ֝זְעָמִ֗ים | nizamim | indignant | H2194 → | 12 times |
| לְשׁ֣וֹן | leshon | a tongue of | H3956 → | 117 times |
| סָֽתֶר׃ | sater | secrecy | H5643 → | 36 times |
ר֣וּחַa wind of
ruachH7307 →378 times
צָ֭פוֹן[the] north
tzafonH6828 →
תְּח֣וֹלֵֽלit brings forth
techolelH2342 →58 times
גָּ֑שֶׁםrain
gashemH1653 →
וּפָנִ֥יםand faces
ufanimH6440 →2123 times
נִ֝זְעָמִ֗יםindignant
nizamimH2194 →12 times
לְשׁ֣וֹןa tongue of
leshonH3956 →117 times
סָֽתֶר׃secrecy
saterH5643 →36 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 15:3who has no slander on his tongue, who does no harm to his neighbor, who casts no scorn on his friend,
it leads to
- Romans 13:10
Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
- Psalms 101:5–8
Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.
- Matthew 7:12
In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
- James 4:11
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of…
- 3 John 1:11
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
- Romans 13:10
Through
Romans 1:30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.
it leads to
- 2 Timothy 3:2
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
- 2 Timothy 3:2
Through
Proverbs 26:20Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases.
it leads to
- Proverbs 16:28
A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends.
- Proverbs 22:10
Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease.
- Proverbs 16:28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).