Proverbs 27:16
restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.
In context
13 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider. 14 If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. 15 A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm; 16 restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.
17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. 18 The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored. 19 As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.
Compare in other versions
- KJV King James Version
— Proverbs 27:16 in the KJV
Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, And the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.
- ESV English Standard Version
— Proverbs 27:16 in the ESV
to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one’s right hand.