Proverbs 27:16

16 restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.

Proverbs 27:16 in Other Translations

16 Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.

16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one's right hand.

16 Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands.

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

16 He that would restrain her restraineth the wind; And his right hand encountereth oil.

16 Whoever can control her can control the wind. He can even pick up olive oil with his right hand.

16 The one who controls her controls the wind and grasps oil with his right hand.

16 Stopping her is like trying to stop the wind. It's like trying to grab oil with your 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Proverbs 27:16 In-Context

14 If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.

15 A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm;

16 restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.

17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

18 The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored.