Proverbs 19:13

13 The sorrow of the father is a fond son; and roofs dropping continually is a woman full of chiding. (A father's sorrow is a foolish son; and a woman full of arguments, or of bickering, is like a roof continually dripping water.)

Proverbs 19:13 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 19:13

A foolish son [is] the calamity of his father
Or, "the calamities of his father" ^F17; he brings them to him. A very great affliction he is, and which has many distresses and sorrows in it; as loss of reputation and credit in his family, which is sunk by his behaviour, instead of being supported and increased; loss of substance, through extravagance and riotous living, and the ruin of his soul and body by his wicked practices; see ( Proverbs 10:1 ) ; and the contentions of a wife [are] a continual dropping;
or like the dropping of rain, in a rainy day, into a house out of repair, and which is very uncomfortable to, the inhabitants of it; see ( Proverbs 27:15 ) . Such are the contentions of a peevish, ill natured, and brawling wife, who is always scolding; and which is a continual vexation to a man, and renders him very uneasy in life: such a continual dropping was Xantippe to Socrates, who teased him night and day with her brawls and contentions ^F18. A great unhappiness each of these must be!

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (twwh) "calamitates", Vatablus; "aerumnae", Piscator, Michaelis; "causa aerumnarum", Junius & Tremellius.
F18 A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 1. c. 17.

Proverbs 19:13 In-Context

11 The teaching of a man is known by patience; and his glory is to pass over wicked things. (Patience showeth a person's wisdom, or the lack of it; and a person's glory is to overlook a wrong.)

12 As the gnashing of a lion, so and the ire of the king; and as dew on herb, so and the gladness of the king. (Like the gnashing of a lion, is the king's anger; and like the dew on the grass, is the king's gladness.)

13 The sorrow of the father is a fond son; and roofs dropping continually is a woman full of chiding. (A father's sorrow is a foolish son; and a woman full of arguments, or of bickering, is like a roof continually dripping water.)

14 Houses and riches be given of father and mother; but a prudent wife is given properly of the Lord. (Houses and riches be given to thee by thy father and mother; but a prudent wife cometh only from the Lord.)

15 Sloth bringeth in sleep; and a negligent soul shall have hunger.