Revised Version 1895
Proverbs 17:22
22A merry heart is a good medicine: but a broken spirit drieth 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 that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief. 21He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy. A merry heart is a good medicine: but a broken spirit drieth up the bones. 23A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom, to pervert the ways of judgment. 24Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding: but the eyes of a fool are in 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
Cross-references for Proverbs 17:22
- Proverbs 12:25Heaviness in the heart of a man maketh it stoop; but a good word maketh it glad.
- Proverbs 15:13A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
- Proverbs 18:14The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a broken spirit who can bear?
- Ecclesiastes 9:7Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works.
- Romans 5:2through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and let us rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
- Psalms 22:15My Strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
- Psalms 32:3When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
- Psalms 102:3For my days consume away like smoke, and my bones are burned as a firebrand.
- 2 Corinthians 2:7so that contrariwise ye should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his overmuch sorrow.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh 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
Revised Version 1895 — 1895 — Public Domain
Commentaries