A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Parallel translations
- WEB A glad heart makes a cheerful face; but an aching heart breaks the spirit.
- 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 merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
- John 14:1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
- Prov 12:25Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.
- Prov 18:14The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?
- Prov 15:15All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
- 2 Cor 7:10For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
- 2 Cor 2:7So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
- Neh 2:2Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
- 2 Cor 1:12For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
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 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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