Proverbs 27:16

16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in his right hand.

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 He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.
15 A continual dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike;
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in his right hand.
17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
18 He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.