Amplified Bible
Proverbs 17:22
22A happy heart is good medicine and a joyful mind causes healing, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
- New International Version (NIV)A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
- English Standard Version (ESV)A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
- New King James Version (NKJV)A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.
Context of Proverbs 17:22
20He who has a crooked mind finds no good, And he who is perverted in his language falls into evil. 21He who becomes the parent of a fool [who is spiritually blind] does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool [who is spiritually blind] has no joy. A happy heart is good medicine and a joyful mind causes healing, But a broken spirit dries up the bones. 23A wicked man receives a bribe from the [hidden] pocket To pervert the ways of justice. 24[Skillful and godly] wisdom is in the presence of a person of understanding [and he recognizes it], But the eyes of a [thickheaded] fool are on the ends of the earth.
Read all of Proverbs 17Proverbs 17:22 word by word
לֵ֣ב שָׂ֭מֵחַ יֵיטִ֣ב גֵּהָ֑ה וְר֥וּחַ נְ֝כֵאָ֗ה תְּיַבֶּשׁ־גָּֽרֶם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 17:22
- Proverbs 12:25Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good (encouraging) word makes it glad.
- Proverbs 15:13A heart full of joy and goodness makes a cheerful face, But when a heart is full of sadness the spirit is crushed.
- Proverbs 18:14The spirit of a man sustains him in sickness, But as for a broken spirit, who can bear it?
- Ecclesiastes 9:7Go your way, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a cheerful heart [if you are righteous, wise, and in the hands of God]; for God has already approved and accepted your works.
- Romans 5:2Through Him we also have access by faith into this [remarkable state of] grace in which we [firmly and safely and securely] stand. Let us rejoice in our hope and the confident assurance of [experiencing and enjoying] the glory of [our great] God [the manifestation of His excellence and power].
- Psalms 22:15My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery; And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws; And You have laid me in the dust of death.
- Psalms 32:3When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all the day long.
- Psalms 102:3For my days have vanished in smoke, And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.
- 2 Corinthians 2:7so instead [of further rebuke, now] you should rather [graciously] forgive and comfort and encourage him, to keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10For [godly] sorrow that is in accord with the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but worldly sorrow [the hopeless sorrow of those who do not believe] produces death.
Commentaries on Proverbs 17:22
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 22A merry heart doeth good like a medicine - Instead of גהה gehah, a medicine, it appears that the Chaldee and Syriac had read in their copies גוה gevah, the body, as they translate in this way. This makes the apposition here more complete: "A merry heart doeth good to the body; but a broken spirit drieth the bones." Nothing has such a direct tendency to ruin health and waste out life as grief, anxiety, fretfulness, bad tempers, etc. All these work death.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 22Doeth good like a medicine - Better, worketh a good healing. Omit “like.”Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 22Verse 22 It is great mercy that God gives us leave to be cheerful, and cause to be cheerful, if by his grace he gives us hearts to be cheerful.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2222. (Compare Pr 14:30; 15:13). The effect of the mind on the body is well known. medicine--or, "body," which better corresponds with "bone." drieth--as if the marrow were exhausted.Read the comment
Topics related to Proverbs 17:22
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Proverbs 17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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