Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.
- BSB Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
- NKJV Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
- NASB Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
- NLT Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.
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
Postponed hope makes the heart sick, but fulfilled longing is life-giving. Hope rightly placed brings deep flourishing.
Overview
This tender proverb acknowledges the real ache of waiting and disappointed expectation, then celebrates the joy of desire fulfilled as 'a tree of life.' It validates human longing while implicitly directing it toward worthy ends. For the believer, the surest hope is in Christ, who does not disappoint (Romans 5:5) and who is Himself the tree of life restored.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- John 16:22And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
- Prov 13:19The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.
- Ps 119:81–83My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.
- Ps 17:15As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
- Prov 3:18She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
- Prov 11:30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
- Ps 69:3I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
- Ps 143:7Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
- Gen 21:6–7And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
- Ps 40:2–3He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
- Song 5:8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
- 1 Sam 1:26–28And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD.
- Gen 46:30And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
- Luke 2:29–30Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
- Rev 22:2In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
- Ps 42:1–3As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 13:12 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
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