Timeline for English equivalent of the Persian proverb "When there's fire, wet and dry burn together"
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 2017 at 0:15 | comment | added | Beta | The Persian proverb can be taken as a caution against playing with fire (such as promoting a revolution). The biblical passage seems more like a fatalistic shrug about an indifferent universe, since no one can summon or prevent rain. | |
| Apr 14, 2017 at 21:05 | comment | added | user39425 | @EhsanM.Kermani In modern times, rain is not so frequently seen as a boon. It ruins a lot of weekends. | |
| Apr 14, 2017 at 20:46 | comment | added | user39425 | But "God makes it rain", so there's a providential element to this proverb. It doesn't quite work well if there's been an instance of collective punishment. | |
| Apr 14, 2017 at 18:57 | comment | added | Ehsan M. Kermani | As a native Persian speaker, your equivalent Biblical quote is kind of the opposite of what the actual quote means! Fire implies bad situation, although rain is good for everyone. Instead you could say "drought happens for the just and the unjust ". | |
| Apr 13, 2017 at 14:08 | comment | added | KRyan |
@xDaizu Please don’t misuse code formatting (backticks, four-space paragraph indents, pre tags) for non-code text. For quotes, we have box quotes in answers, and quotation marks work everywhere. The code formatting is semantic, telling the computer that the text is code—your browser might render that as monospace font with a gray background, but that is not its primary purpose. And alternative technologies like screen readers for the blind have to do something else communicate code to their users, which can make the text hard to understand (reading letter-by-letter is not unheard of).
|
|
| Apr 12, 2017 at 16:33 | comment | added | Vladislavs Dovgalecs | I respectfully disagree with this answer. The cited part of Matthews 5:45 is used in completely different context, even though one could be tempted to use in OPs situation. The Matthews 5:45 is about God's blessing that is equally universal for everybody: sinner and just alike. | |
| Apr 12, 2017 at 10:31 | comment | added | mikeagg | The rain it raineth on the just And also on the unjust fella; But chiefly on the just, because The unjust hath the just’s umbrella. | |
| Apr 12, 2017 at 1:04 | comment | added | lly | I'm a North American who always took the rain as a positive thing and, given the prevalence of Christianity and the importance of the Beatitudes, I'd say most Americans would as well. That said, I suppose @CullenJ is right that the proverbs will seem similar to the recently increasing number of atheists &c. who presumably won't know the context of the Christian one. (Though again, in my experience, American atheists usually know the Bible better than most of the parishioners and will cite the Beatitudes as one of the book's highlights...) | |
| Apr 12, 2017 at 1:00 | comment | added | lly | I think the The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike has better rhythm. (Odd that it's only in the NLT and not the KJV, though; my mom must have been paraphrasing when I was younger.) | |
| Apr 11, 2017 at 16:42 | comment | added | brokethebuildagain | That's fascinating @xDaizu; I believe it is meant to be positive. In the context, Jesus is exhorting his followers to "love their enemies" and "do good to them that hate you." This is immediately followed by the example that the Father causes both rain and sun to affect the just and the unjust. However, most people (I assume) don't know the context of the quote, and at face value (at least in N. America) would see rain as a negative. | |
| Apr 11, 2017 at 13:31 | comment | added | xDaizu |
@PyRulez There's an actual academic argument about that (because of course there is). From wikipedia: Schweizer notes that in Palestine rain was extremely important and beneficial, the hot sun, was less so. He notes that in Greece at this time the burning power of the sun was often a symbol of godly power while the rain was a symbol of godly benevolence. By contrast in wetter and more northern societies, rain is often viewed as unpleasant.[2] Most scholars feel that in this verse both rain and sun are meant to be positive.
|
|
| Apr 11, 2017 at 13:14 | comment | added | Christopher King | I though the rain represented good things in that quote? | |
| Apr 10, 2017 at 22:27 | comment | added | Sven Yargs | Comments aren't answers—and they don't pretend to be. You cited the source of the expression (which I did not) and you turned the suggestion of the expression (which you arrived at independently in any case) into a legitimate answer. More power to you! | |
| Apr 10, 2017 at 21:14 | comment | added | brokethebuildagain | My apologies; I did not see that @SvenYargs had posted the same answer in the comments. If he would like to post this as an answer, I don't mind taking mine down. | |
| Apr 10, 2017 at 21:09 | history | answered | brokethebuildagain | CC BY-SA 3.0 |