The north wind brings forth rain, And a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.
Parallel translations
- WEB The north wind produces rain; so a backbiting tongue brings an angry face.
- KJV The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
- BSB As the north wind brings forth rain, so a backbiting tongue brings angry looks.
- NASB The north wind brings rain, And a gossiping tongue brings an angry face.
- NLT As surely as a north wind brings rain, so a gossiping tongue causes anger!
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
Just as the north wind brings rain, a gossiping tongue produces angry looks. Backbiting predictably stirs up trouble.
Overview
The proverb links cause and effect: secret slander reliably provokes resentment and conflict, as surely as certain winds bring rain. It warns against the corrosive power of the gossiping tongue (Prov 16:28). Wisdom guards speech to preserve peace rather than ignite anger.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Prov 26:20For lack of wood a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down.
- Job 37:22Out of the north comes golden splendor. With God is awesome majesty.
- 2 Cor 12:20For I am afraid that by any means, when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don’t desire; that by any means there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, riots;
- Ps 15:3He who doesn’t slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor casts slurs against his fellow man;
- Rom 1:30backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
- Ps 101:5I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.
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 25:23 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.