Like one who removes a garment on a cold day or vinegar poured on a wound is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB As one who takes away a garment in cold weather, or vinegar on soda, so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
- KJV As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.
- NKJV Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, And like vinegar on soda, Is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
- NASB Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar on soda, Is one who sings songs to a troubled heart.
- NLT Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart is like taking someone’s coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Singing cheerful songs to a grieving heart is as jarring as taking a coat in the cold. Comfort must fit the sufferer's condition.
Overview
The proverb warns against insensitive, ill-timed cheer that ignores another's pain, like removing warmth from one who is cold. True wisdom weeps with those who weep (Rom 12:15). It commends compassionate sensitivity in how we minister to the hurting.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Rom 12:15Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
- Eccl 3:4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
- Deut 24:12–17If he is a poor man, you must not go to sleep with the security in your possession;
- Isa 58:7Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
- Jas 2:15–16Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
- Dan 6:18Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No entertainment was brought before him, and sleep fled from him.
- Ps 137:3–4for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”
- Prov 10:26Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slacker to those who send him.
- Job 24:7–10Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold.
- Jas 5:15And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 25:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.