Proverbios 25:20

La Biblia Reina-Valera Gomez

El que canta canciones al corazón afligido, es como el que quita la ropa en tiempo de frío, o el que sobre el jabón echa vinagre.

Parallel Translations

La Biblia de las Americas
Como el que se quita la ropa en día de frío, o como el vinagre sobre la lejía, es el que canta canciones a un corazón afligido.

La Biblia Reina-Valera
El que canta canciones al coraz�n afligido, Es como el que quita la ropa en tiempo de fr�o, � el que sobre el jab�n echa vinagre.

Sagradas Escrituras (1569)
El que canta canciones al coraz�n afligido, es como el que quita la ropa en tiempo de fr�o, o el que sobre el jab�n echa vinagre.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

that taketh: Deuteronomy 24:12-17, Job 24:7-10, Isaiah 58:7, James 2:15, James 2:16

vinegar: Proverbs 10:26

so: Psalms 137:3, Psalms 137:4, Ecclesiastes 3:4, Daniel 6:18, Romans 12:15, James 5:15

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 28:23 - I will Proverbs 31:21 - afraid

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[As] he that taketh away a garment in cold weather,.... Either takes it off of himself, or another person, when it would be rather more proper to put another garment on, and so is exposed to the injury of cold weather;

[and as] vinegar upon nitre: nitre was found in Egypt, beyond Memphis, as Strabo says p; there were two mines of nitre, which produced much, and thence it was called the Nitriotic Nome: others say, nitre has its name from Nitria, a town in Egypt q, which gives name to the Nitrian desert, where there is a lake called Latron; from the bottom of which, that sort of nitre, called Natron, arises to the top, as is apprehended, and there, by the heat of the sun, condenses into this kind of substance r, which will react with an acid; and so vinegar poured upon it will irritate and disturb it, cause it to react, and make a noise and a hissing. This must be understood only of this sort of nitre, of the nitre of the ancients; not of the moderns, which is no other than saltpetre; for though this will ferment with vinegar, saltpetre will not s: nitre is dissolved by a liquid, but not any, only that which is cold, as Aristotle observes t, as is vinegar; and therefore, with great propriety, this is joined to what goes before;

so [is] he that singeth songs to a heavy heart; rather distresses and afflicts him the more; as he cannot sing himself, he cannot bear to hear others sing; such rather should be condoled and wept with than to have songs sung to them. Some understand the words in a sense the reverse; the word rendered taketh away, in the first clause, has the signification of adorning with a garment; hence they render it, "as he that putteth on a garment u for ornament in cold weather, and as vinegar to nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart"; that is, as an additional garment drives away cold, and vinegar dissolves nitre, so singing songs to a heavy hearted man drives away sorrow; as in the case of Saul, such an effect had music on him, 1 Samuel 16:21; or rather, to put on a thin garment for ornament in cold weather is as absurd and unseasonable as to put vinegar to nitre, or to a wound, as Schultens, and to sing songs to a heavy heart; all absurd.

p Geograph. l. 17. p. 552. q Isidor. Origin. l. 16. c. 2. r Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 2. p. 530. s Ibid. p. 532. Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 1009, 1010. t Meteorolog. l. 4. c. 6. u מעדה בגד "ornans vestem suam", Gussetins, p. 880. "ornata veste instruens"; Schultens.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Examples of unwisdom and incongruity sharpen the point of the proverb. Pouring vinegar upon nitre or potash utterly spoils it. The effervescence caused by the mixture is perhaps taken as a type of the irritation produced by the “songs” sung out of season to a heavy heart.

The verb rendered “taketh away” may have the sense (as in Ezekiel 16:11) of “adorning oneself,” and the illustration would then be, “as to put on a fine garment in time of cold is unseasonable, so is singing to a heavy heart.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 25:20. As vinegar upon nitre — The original word נתר nather is what is known among chemists as the natron of the ancients and of the Scriptures, and carbonate of soda. It is found native in Syria and India, and occurs as an efflorescence on the soil. In Tripoli it is found in crystalline incrustations of from one third to half an inch thick. It is found also in solution in the water of some lakes in Egypt and Hungary. The borders of these lakes are covered with crystalline masses, of a grayish white or light brown colour; and in some specimens the natron is nearly pure carbonate of soda, and the carbonate is easily discovered by effervescing with an acid. It appears to have its Hebrew name from נתר nathar, to dissolve or loosen: because a solution of it in water is abstersive, taking out spots, c. It is used in the East for the purposes of washing. If vinegar be poured on it, Dr. Shaw says a strong fermentation immediately takes place, which illustrates what Solomon says here: "The singing of songs to a heavy heart is like vinegar upon natron:" that is, "there is no affinity between them and opposition, colluctation, and strife, are occasioned by any attempt to unite them."

And poureth vyneger upon chalke. - COVERDALE. This also will occasion an effervescence. See Jeremiah 2:22.