Proverbs 30:33

Pro 30:33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

Ver. 33. So the forcing of wrath.] Too much stirring in an offensive matter bringeth forth brawling, lawing, warring, fighting. Patientia laesa sit furor. The most patient person may be put beyond all patience if much provoked. Abner bare long with Asahel, but sped him at length. Abused mercy turns into fury. See Pro 15:1.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 30:33. Surely the churning of milk — This verse, which is connected with that preceding, is thus paraphrased by the last-mentioned author: “For from little things there is an easy progress unto greater. And just as you see milk is first pressed out of the cow’s udders, and then, being shaken in the churn, is forced into butter; and as the nose, being wrung, though at first it only purge itself, yet, if it be harder pressed, there comes out blood; even so words, passing to and fro, raise a heat, and that, if continued, stirs up anger, which frequently ends in broils and irreconcileable quarrels.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, strife--or other ills, as surely arise from devising evil as natural effects from natural causes.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 31

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 33. And the wringing] Who hugeli snytith drawith out blood. - Old MS. Bible. This is well expressed in homely phrase. The Septuagint have, "draw the milk, and you may have butter; if you press the nostrils you may bring out blood; and if you draw out your discourse to a great length, you may have strife and contention." Avoid, therefore, all strong excitements and irritations. Coverdale's translation of this verse is very simple: "Whoso chyrneth mylck maketh butter; he that rubbeth his nose maketh it blede; and he that causeth wrath bryngeth forth strife."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(33) Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter. . . .—The same word is used in the Hebrew for the three which appear in the Authorised Version, “churning,” “wringing,” and “forcing.” The sense will be, “For (as) pressure on milk produces butter, and pressure on the nose produces blood, (so) pressure on wrath (violence towards a hot-tempered person) produces anger.” (Comp. Pro_15:1.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. churning … wringing … forcing] The Heb. word, pressing, is the same in each case, but its shade of meaning varies with the process described.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter,.... Or the pressing of it. This is a thing well known and certain, that of milk, when pressed out of the udder, and put into a churn, and there is shook together, by a constant violent agitation or motion, called churning, butter is produced; and cheese is sometimes called pressed milk (y), and is pressed with the runnet, and by the hand also (z);

and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: a too violent compression of it, or forcible blowing of it, in order to purge it from any impurity in it; instead of doing which it may break the tender skin, and bring forth blood, which may be of bad consequence;

so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife; irritating the passions of men, and provoking them by scurrilous and reproachful words to wrath and anger, produce contentions, feuds, and lawsuits, which are not soon and easily ended; and therefore such a conduct should be carefully avoided. The same word is used in the three clauses, and signifies pressing, squeezing, forcing.

(y) "Pressi copia lactis", Virgil. Bucolic. eclog. 1. v. 82. "Et lactia massa coacti", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 8. v. 666. (z) "Causem bubulum manu presssum", Sueton. in Octav. c. 76.

Next: Proverbs Chapter 31

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Churning ... wringing ... forcing - In the Hebrew text it is one and the same word. “The pressure of milk produces curds, the pressure of the nose produces blood, the pressure of wrath (i. e., brooding over and, as it were, condensing it) produces strife.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And. Hebrew, "For he who presseth milk." (Calmet) --- Protestants, "Surely the churning of milk bringeth for butter," &c. (Haydock) --- Strife. Moderation is necessary, (Calmet) in all actions. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The forcing of wrath; the stirring up of wrath, either,

1. In a man’s self towards others, by giving way to passion, or by fixing his thoughts upon those things which may inflame it. Or,

2. In others by reproaches, injuries, or any other provocations.

Bringeth forth strife; is the cause of many quarrels, and much mischief among men.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. Churning of milk, etc. — Our excellent Authorized Version has here failed to give the spirit of the original. The same verbs occur in each clause of the verse, and should be translated accordingly. For as the pressing of milk bringeth forth cheese, (or whey,) and the pressing of the nose bringeth forth blood, so the pressing of anger bringeth forth strife. Miller translates the last clause: “So the pressing down of passion presses away strife.” He makes the apodosis of Pro_30:32, and of part of this.

Butter — חמאה, (hhemah,) is supposed to mean milk in general, sometimes curdled milk, curds, cheese; but Miller contends stoutly for whey.

The wringing of the nose — Thomson (Land and Book, vol. i, p. 373) describes the Oriental mode of churning to be by squeezing or pressing a leathern bag (the goatskin bottle of the East) containing the milk. This makes more apparent the meaning of the comparison in the last verse.

So end the חידות, (hhidhoth,) enigmas of Agur, “in the which are some things hard to be understood.” They have exercised the ingenuity of wise and learned men for ages. We can do little more than repeat their guesses, though, by comparing one with another, we may, perhaps, make a little advance. Among the more probable of these guesses are those of Dr. Miller, who allegorizes the whole book, and this part in particular. According to him, Pro_30:10-14 represent sin as progressive; Pro_30:15-16, as insatiable; Pro_30:18-29, as insidious; Pro_30:21-23, as intolerable; Pro_30:24-28, how to get rid of it; Pro_30:29-33, the practical application. Whether the learned doctor has hit the meaning of the wise man or not, he has given good sound doctrine, put in very forcible language. That the object of these Proverbs is, as Dr. Conant remarks, moral instruction, there can be little doubt. Hence the thought that they are simply an amusing play of the fancy is to be dismissed at once.

In the Septuagint Version this chapter is split up and scattered, a part in one place and a part in another. Pro_30:1-14 come in after Pro_24:22; the remainder after Proverbs 24:37. This is followed again by the first nine verses of chap. 31. Then come in chapters 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29; the book concluding with the remainder of chapter 31, Pro_30:10-31.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter. The same word, mits, is used for "churning," "wringing," and "forcing;" it means "pressure" in all the cases, though with a different application. At the present day milk is churned in the East by enclosing it in a leathern bottle, which is then suspended in the air and jerked to and fro till the butter is produced. This process could scarcely be called "pressure," though, possibly, the squeezing of the udder is meant, as the Septuagint and Vulgate take it. But most probably the reference is to cheese, the term used, chemah, being applied indifferently to curdled milk and cheese. To produce this substance, the curdled milk is put into little baskets of rush or palm leaves, tied closely, and then pressed under heavy stones. What the proverb says is that, as the pressure applied to milk produces cheese, and as pressure applied to the nose brings blood, so the pressure of wrath bringeth forth strife; the irritation and provocation of anger occasion quarrels and contentions. They say in Malabar, remarks Lane, "Anger is a stone cast into a wasp"s nest." Septuagint, "Press out milk, and there shall be butter; and if thou violently squeeze the nostrils, blood will come forth; and if thou draw forth words, there will come forth quarrels and strifes." It is the third clause which is important, and to which the others lead up; and the verse must be taken in connection with the preceding, as enforcing the duty of self-restraint and silence under certain circumstances. Some of the Fathers, commenting on the Vulgate rendering (Qui fortiter premit ubera ad eliciendum lac, exprimit butyrum; et qui vehementer emungit, elicit sanguinem), apply the passage to the handling of the Word of God. Thus St Gregory ("Moral.," 21:3), "Divine sentences require sometimes to be viewed externally, sometimes to be explored internally. For we "press the udder strongly" when we weigh with minute understanding the word of sacred revelation, by which way of pressing whilst we seek milk, we find butter, because, whilst we seek to be fed with but a little insight, we are anointed with the abundance of interior richness. Which, nevertheless, we ought neither to do too much, nor at all times, lest, while milk is sought for from the udder, there should follow blood. For very often, persons, whilst they sift the words of sacred revelation more than they ought, fall into a carnal apprehension. For "he draws forth blood who wringeth violently." Since that is rendered carnal which is perceived by an overgreat sifting of the spirit" (Oxford transl.).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The forcing - The stirring up of wrath, either in a man's self towards others, by giving way to passion; or in others by reproaches, or any other provocations. Bringeth forth - Is the cause of many quarrels.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

For pressing milk For, just as butter will come out by pressing milk and blood by pressing the nose too much, so will strife come out of pressing the nostrils of anger. pressing Heb. מיץ, pressing, preindre in Old French, as in (Jud. 6:38): “and wrung (וימץ) dew, etc.” And our Sages explained (Ber. 63b): If you were put to shame because of the words of Torah, by seeking and asking your doubts of your mentor, even if you appear to him as a fool without intelligence, you will ultimately be exalted; ואם זמות, but if you placed a muzzle on your mouth and muzzled it, and you did not ask him anything, your end will be that when they ask you a matter of halachah, you will put your hand to your mouth and you will be dumb, for you will not know to reply anything about it. Just as pressing milk gives out butter, so will pressing anger that your mentor is wroth with you for not understanding readily and you were put to shame because of it, eventually bring out of your mouth after a time many (רבות) halachoth and instructions.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.