Proverbs 17 · Verse 22

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Proverbs 17:22, King James Version

Proverbs 17:22 in other translations

BSBA joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
WEBA cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
ASVA cheerful heart is a good medicine; But a broken spirit drieth up the bones.
YLTA rejoicing heart doth good to the body, And a smitten spirit drieth the bone.
DARBYA joyful heart promoteth healing; but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.
BBEA glad heart makes a healthy body, but a crushed spirit makes the bones dry.
WebsterA merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

What does Proverbs 17:22 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
22. (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.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 22 A 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
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.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Proverbs 17:22 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

לֵ֣בleva heartH3820
שָׂ֭מֵחַSa.me.achjoyfulH8056
יֵיטִ֣בyei.Tivit makes goodH3190
גֵּהָ֑הge.HahhealingH1456
וְר֥וּחַve.Ru.achand a spiritH7307
נְ֝כֵאָ֗הne.khe.'AhstrickenH5218
תְּיַבֶּשׁ\־te.ya.besh-it dries upH3001
גָּֽרֶם\׃Ga.rembone[s]H1634

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Proverbs 17:22

  • Proverbs 15:13

    A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

  • Proverbs 12:25

    Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

  • Proverbs 18:14

    The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?

  • 2 Corinthians 7:10

    For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

  • Ecclesiastes 9:7-9

    Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

  • Romans 5:2-5

    By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

  • 2 Corinthians 2:7

    So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

  • Psalms 102:3-5

    For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

  • Psalms 22:15

    My 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 32:3-4

    When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
merry.
12:25; 15:13; 18:14; Ec 9:7-9; Ro 5:2-5
like a medicine. Heb. to a medicine. a broken.
Ps 22:15; 32:3,4; 102:3-5; 2Co 2:7; 7:10

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Proverbs 17:21

    He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.

  • Proverbs 17:22

    A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

  • Proverbs 17:23

    A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

Read all of Proverbs 17

Proverbs 17:22 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		El corazón alegre produce buena disposición: mas el espíritu triste seca los huesos.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Le cœur joyeux fait du bien à la santé, mais un esprit abattu dessèche les os.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ein fröhliches Herz bringt gute Besserung, aber ein zerschlagener Geist vertrocknet das Gebein.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Animus gaudens ætatem floridam facit; spiritus tristis exsiccat ossa.