The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
The north wind driveth away rain; so (doth) an angry countenance a backbiting tongue. So Vulgate. The north wind usually produces fair weather (Job 37:22). The Hebrew for "driveth away" ( tªchowleel (H2342)) is, literally, to cause to grieve, so to put to flight. But the Syriac and Chaldaic translate, as the Hebrew also means, to give birth to (from the pain of childbirth): 'The north wind bringeth forth, so, (doth) a backbiting tongue an angry countenance'-namely, on the part of him so backbitten toward the backbiter; also on the part of the hearer of the secret slander toward the object of the slander. The English version gives an excellent idea: If you do not listen to, but frown on, the backbiter, you put him to silence. The receiver of slanders gives impetus to, and shares the guilt of, the slanderer (Romans 1:32). Backbiters would have no place if there were not ears itching to hear their tales.