Proverbs 25:23 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

An angry countenance in the hearer, who by his countenance showeth his dislike of such persons and practices. A backbiting tongue, Heb. a secret tongue, which privily slandereth his neighbour, as it is expressed, Psalms 101:5, and as the manner of backbiters is. But this verse is otherwise rendered in the margin, and by divers others, the north wind bringeth forth (as this verb properly and most frequently signifies, and as it is rendered by all the ancient interpreters, and by many others) rain (which it doth in Judea, because the sea lies northward as well as westward from it, as also in Africa, as Aristotle observes, though it drive away rain in countries of another situation): so doth a backbiting tongue (cause) an angry countenance; it causeth much anger and mischief; both to the person slandered, and to the slanderer, and to other persons who may be concerned with or for either of them, as is manifest from common experience.