Proverbs 27:16

16 You can't turn it off, and you can't get away from it. Your Face Mirrors Your Heart

Proverbs 27:16 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 27:16

Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind
Whoever attempts to stop her brawls and contentions, to repress and restrain them, and hinder her voice being heard in the streets, and endeavours to hide the shame that comes upon herself and family, attempts a thing as impossible as to hide the wind in the palm of a man's hand, or to stop it from blowing; for as that, by being restrained or pent up by any methods that can be used, makes the greater noise, so, by all the means that are used to still a contentious woman, she is but the more noisy and clamorous, and becomes more shameful and infamous; and the ointment of his right hand, [which] bewrayeth [itself]:
or "will call" or "calls" F8, and says, in effect, Here am I; for the smell of it, which cannot be hid when held in a man's hand, betrays it; and the faster he holds it, and the more he presses and squeezes it, and the more it is heated hereby, the more it diffuses its savour, and is known to be where it is; and so all attempts to stop the mouth of a brawling woman does but cause her to brawl the louder.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 (arqy) "clamabit", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Mercerus; "vocabit", Baynus; "clamat", Piscator, Michaelis; "praeconem agit", Schultens.

Proverbs 27:16 In-Context

14 If you wake your friend in the early morning by shouting "Rise and shine!" It will sound to him more like a curse than a blessing.
15 A nagging spouse is like the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet;
16 You can't turn it off, and you can't get away from it. Your Face Mirrors Your Heart
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.
18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.