Anxiety weighs down the heart of a man, but a good word cheers it up.
Parallel translations
- WEB Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad.
- KJV Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.
- NKJV Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.
- NASB Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.
- NLT Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word makes it glad. Encouraging words can lift a burdened soul.
Overview
The proverb acknowledges the real weight of anxiety on the human heart and the power of a good word to bring gladness. It commends compassion in our speech toward the troubled. This points to the comfort God gives and to the encouraging ministry believers are to have toward one another, ultimately resting in the peace Christ provides.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Prov 16:24Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
- Prov 15:13A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance, but sorrow of the heart crushes the spirit.
- Prov 17:22A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
- Isa 50:4The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
- Prov 15:23A man takes joy in a fitting reply—and how good is a timely word!
- Prov 12:18Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- Prov 27:9Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the sweetness of a friend is counsel to the soul.
- Zech 1:13So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.
- Ps 42:11Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
- Prov 18:14The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?
- Prov 25:11A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
- 2 Cor 2:4–7For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.
- Ps 38:6I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
- Mark 14:33–34He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.
- Prov 14:10The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares in its joy.
- Neh 2:1–2Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence,
- Prov 15:15All the days of the oppressed are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 12:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.