New King James Version
Proverbs 17:22
22A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries 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 Living Translation (NLT)A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
Context of Proverbs 17:22
20He who has a deceitful heart finds no good, And he who has a perverse tongue falls into evil. 21He who begets a scoffer does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy. A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones. 23A wicked man accepts a bribe behind the back To pervert the ways of justice. 24Wisdom is in the sight of him who has understanding, But the eyes of a 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 the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.
- Proverbs 15:13A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
- Proverbs 18:14The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?
- Ecclesiastes 9:7Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works.
- Romans 5:2through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
- Psalms 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.
- Psalms 32:3When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long.
- Psalms 102:3For my days are consumed like smoke, And my bones are burned like a hearth.
- 2 Corinthians 2:7so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries