A glad heart makes a cheerful face; but an aching heart breaks the spirit.
Parallel translations
- KJV A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
- BSB A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance, but sorrow of the heart crushes the spirit.
- NKJV A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
- NASB A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.
- NLT A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.
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
A glad heart brightens the face, but heartache crushes the spirit. Our inner state shows outwardly and affects our whole being.
Overview
This proverb observes the connection between the heart and the outward person: joy lights up the countenance, while sorrow breaks the spirit. It acknowledges the reality of inner pain even as it commends the blessing of a glad heart. Lasting gladness is found in God, who restores the joy of those who trust in Him (Psalm 51:12).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 17:22A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
- John 14:1“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
- Prov 12:25Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad.
- Prov 18:14A man’s spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?
- Prov 15:15All the days of the afflicted are wretched, but one who has a cheerful heart enjoys a continual feast.
- 2 Cor 7:10For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
- 2 Cor 2:7so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.
- Neh 2:2The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
- 2 Cor 1:12For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
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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 15:13 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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