What Does Proverbs 25:23 Mean in the King James?
The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse makes an angry face the north wind that scatters a tongue speaking in secret.
THE MEANING
A concealed tongue meets the force of an openly angry face, and its speech is scattered. The weather image gives that response a shape: the north wind drives away the rain that has gathered overhead.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that speech spoken in secret can keep its power untouched: an openly angry face can disperse it.
THE ROOT
סֵתֶר
sēter
GROWS FROM
סתר
s-t-r
hide, conceal, keep out of sight
“backbiting” in this verse is sēter. The Hebrew phrase is a “tongue of secrecy,” so the verse foregrounds speech operating under cover. This root also names a hiding place, where hiddenness can mean refuge rather than harm.
ALSO GROWS
sātar: to hide or conceal
סָתַר
The verb names the act of keeping something out of sight, the condition of the tongue in this verse.
histīr: he hid or concealed
הִסְתִּיר
This form makes concealment an action, sharpening the sense of speech kept from view.
צָפוֹן
tsafon
GROWS FROM
צפן
ts-p-n
hide, store away, treasure up
The Hebrew word for north comes from a root of hiding or storing away, so both the wind and the tongue carry a shade of concealment. The wind gives that hidden force an open form as it scatters what has gathered.
ALSO GROWS
tsāfan: to hide, store, or treasure up
צָפַן
This verb supplies the hidden or stored-away sense carried by the word for north.
tsāfūn: hidden or stored away
צָפוּן
This related form makes the root’s concealed quality plain beside the image of the north wind.
THE PATTERN
Speech kept in secret still takes form and reaches beyond its cover, where it can be answered or exposed.
Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.THE THREAD
Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.The hiddenness in Proverbs shares its root with the word translated “hiding place” here. The same root turns in two directions: secrecy can shelter harmful speech, while a hiding place can also mean refuge from trouble.
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