John Gill Commentary Proverbs 21:9

"It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, Than with a contentious woman in a wide house." — Proverbs 21:9 (ASV)

[It is] better to dwell in a corner of the housetop. The roofs of houses in Judea were that, encompassed with battlements, where persons might retire for solitude, and sit in safety: and it is better to be in a corner of such a roof alone, and be exposed to scorching heat, to blustering winds, to thunder storms and showers of rain,

than with a brawling woman in a wide house; large and spacious, full of rooms, fit for a numerous family: or, "an house of society" ^F21 ; where many families might dwell and live sociably with each other; or a house where a man, his wife and family, might dwell together, and have communion with each other; it is opposed to the corner of the housetop, and the solitariness of it;

as the scolding of the brawling woman, or "a woman of contentions" ^F23 , who is always noisy and quarrelsome, her violent passions, her storming language, and thundering voice, are to the inclemencies of the heavens, to which a man on the housetop is exposed; and yet these are more eligible than the other; see (Proverbs 21:19) (17:1) (19:13) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F21: (rbx tybw) "domo societatis", Montanus, Vatablus, Baynus, Mercerus, Michaelis, "et domus societatis", Schultens.
• F23: (Mynwdm tvam) "prae muliere contentionum", Montanus, Schultens.