New English Translation
Proverbs 17:22
22A cheerful heart brings good healing, but a crushed 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
20The one who has a perverse heart does not find good, and the one who is deceitful in speech falls into trouble. 21Whoever brings a fool into the world does so to his grief, and the father of a fool has no joy. A cheerful heart brings good healing, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. 23A wicked person receives a bribe secretly to pervert the ways of justice. 24Wisdom is directly in front of the discerning person, but the eyes of a fool run to 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 person’s heart weighs him down, but an encouraging word brings him joy.
- Proverbs 15:13A joyful heart makes the face cheerful, but by a painful heart the spirit is broken.
- Proverbs 18:14A person’s spirit sustains him through sickness – but who can bear a crushed spirit?
- Ecclesiastes 9:7Go, eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, because God has already approved your works.
- Romans 5:2through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.
- Psalms 22:15The roof of my mouth is as dry as a piece of pottery; my tongue sticks to my gums. You set me in the dust of death.
- Psalms 32:3When I refused to confess my sin, my whole body wasted away, while I groaned in pain all day long.
- Psalms 102:3For my days go up in smoke, and my bones are charred like a fireplace.
- 2 Corinthians 2:7so that now instead you should rather forgive and comfort him. This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10For sadness as intended by God produces a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret, but worldly sadness brings about 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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