Proverbs 19:13

A foolish child ¹  is the ruin of his father, and a contentious wife ²  is like ³  a constant dripping. ⁴ 

A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.

A foolish son is destruction to his father, And the contentions of a wife are a constant dripping.

A foolish child is a calamity to a father; a nagging wife annoys like a constant dripping.

A parent is worn to a frazzle by a stupid child; a nagging spouse is a leaky faucet.

A foolish son is the destruction of his father; and the bitter arguments of a wife are like drops of rain falling without end.

A stupid child is ruin to a father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.

A foolish son is the ruin of his father, And the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping.

A foolish child ¹  is the ruin of his father, and a contentious wife ²  is like ³  a constant dripping. ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “a foolish son” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, CEV); NRSV “a stupid child.”

² tn Heb “the contentions of a wife” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “the nagging of a wife.” The genitive could be interpreted (1) as genitive of source or subjective genitive – she is quarreling; or (2) it could be a genitive of specification, making the word “contentions” a modifier, as in the present translation.

³ tn Heb “is a constant dripping.” The term “like” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity. The metaphor pictures water dropping (perhaps rain through the roof, cf. NRSV, CEV) in a continuous flow: It is annoying and irritating (e.g., Prov 27:15-16).

⁴ tc The LXX makes this moralistic statement for 13b: “vows paid out of hire of a harlot are not pure.” It is not based on the MT and attempts to reconstruct a text using this have been unsuccessful.