Warning against Self-Praise and Presumption.
WISDOM AND HUMILITY GO HAND IN HAND. — V. 14. He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, in an attempt to appear most friendly and sincere and thus to hide his real feeling, it shall be counted a curse to him, it will so be charged against him on account of his hypocrisy and insincerity.
V. 15. A continual dropping in a very rainy day, when the drip of the spouts persists with maddening monotony, and a contentious woman, one always nagging and quarreling, are alike, namely, in their disagreeable effect upon others.
V. 16. Whosoever hideth her, that is, whoever attempts to restrain such a woman, hideth the wind, it is just as foolish to try to shut out the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself, rather, “and his right hand encounters oil,” something which always slips out of his grasp; for it is impossible to put a stop to the shrew’s scolding.