It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman.
KJV
It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
Commentary
Commentary
It is better to dwell in the wilderness,.... Where persons live without shelter, and are not only exposed to storms and tempests, but to beasts of prey; where is want of the necessaries of life, and no society; where no "speech" is, as the word (e) for wilderness may signify; yet it is better to dwell in such a place, where no human voice is heard,
than with a contentious and an angry woman; that is always brawling and scolding, ever in a quarrelsome and angry disposition, and provoking to anger all about her; See Gill on
Pro 21:9
. In a mystical sense, it is better to be with the church in the wilderness,
Rev 12:14
; than with the furious, bloodthirsty, and persecuting church of Rome, in all its worldly glory and splendour.
(e) "a" "loqui".
Commentary
Commentary