New International Version
Proverbs 17:22
22A cheerful heart is good medicine, 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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
Context of Proverbs 17:22
20One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper; one whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble. 21To have a fool for a child brings grief; there is no joy for the parent of a godless fool. A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. 23The wicked accept bribes in secret to pervert the course of justice. 24A discerning person keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander 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 weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.
- Proverbs 15:13A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
- Proverbs 18:14The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?
- Ecclesiastes 9:7Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.
- Romans 5:2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
- Psalms 22:15My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
- Psalms 32:3When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
- Psalms 102:3For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.
- 2 Corinthians 2:7Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings 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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