Proverbs Chapter 25 verse 23 Holy Bible
The north wind bringeth forth rain: So doth a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.
read chapter 25 in ASV
As the north wind gives birth to rain, so is an angry face caused by a tongue saying evil secretly.
read chapter 25 in BBE
The north wind bringeth forth rain, and the angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
read chapter 25 in DARBY
The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
read chapter 25 in KJV
read chapter 25 in WBT
The north wind brings forth rain: So a backbiting tongue brings an angry face.
read chapter 25 in WEB
A north wind bringeth forth rain, And a secret tongue -- indignant faces.
read chapter 25 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 23. - The north wind driveth away rain. So St. Jerome (Ventus Aquilo dissipat pluvias), Symmachus, Aben Ezra, and others. The north wind is called by the natives of Palestine "the heavenly," from the bright effect which it produces in the sky. "By means of the north wind cometh he (the sun) forth as gold" (Job 37:22). But the verb here used (חול) means "to bring forth, produce" (Psalm 90:2); hence the Revised Version rightly renders, "The north wind bringeth forth rain." This is quite true if "north wind" be taken as equivalent to "wind from the dark quarter" (Umbreit), like ζόφος in Greek; and, in fact, the northwest wind in Palestine does bring rain. Septuagint, "The north wind arouseth (ἐξεγείρει) clouds." So doth an angry countenance a backbiting, tongue. Carrying on the interpretation intended by the Authorized Version, this clause means that an angry leer will check a slanderer and incline him to hold his peace from prudential motives. But with the rendering given above, "bringeth forth," another explanation is involved, viz. "So does a secret, slandering tongue cause a troubled countenance." When a man discovers that a secret slanderer is working against him, he shows it by his gloomy and angry look, as the sky is dark with clouds when a storm is threatened. "Countenance" is plural in the Hebrew, denoting, as Hitzig points out, that the calumniator does not affect one person only, but occasions trouble far and wide, destroys friendly relations between many, excites suspicion and enmity in various quarters Septuagint, "An impudent countenance provokes the tongue."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(23) The north wind driveth away rain.--The marginal rendering is probably more correct: "The north wind bringeth forth rain;" but as this seems to be opposed to Job 37:22, it has been thought that the north-west, which is a rainy wind, must be intended here.So doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.--Rather, So doth a backbiting tongue (bring forth, or cause) troubled faces.
