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Selected Verse: Proverbs 17:22 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Pr 17:22 |
Strong Concordance |
A merry [08056] heart [03820] doeth good [03190] like a medicine [01456]: but a broken [05218] spirit [07307] drieth [03001] the bones [01634]. |
| |
King James |
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
(Compare Pro 14:30; Pro 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. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| Doeth good like a medicine - Better, worketh a good healing. Omit "like." |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
22 A joyful heart bringeth good recovery;
And a broken spirit drieth the bones.
The heart is the centre of the individual life, and the condition and the tone of the heart communicates itself to this life, even to its outermost circumference; the spirit is the power of self-consciousness which, according as it is lifted up or broken, also lifts up or breaks down the condition of the body (Psychol. p. 199), vid., the similar contrasted phrases לב שׂמח and רוּח נכאה, Pro 15:13. The ἄπ. λεγ. גּהה (here and there in Codd. incorrectly written גּיהה) has nothing to do with the Arab. jihat, which does not mean sight, but direction, and is formed from wjah (whence wajah, sight), like עדה, congregation, from ועד (יעד). The Syr., Targ. (perhaps also Symmachus: ἀγαθύνει ἡλικίαν; Jerome: aetatem floridam facit; Luther: makes the life lstig [cheerful]) translate it by body; but for this גּוה (גּויּה) is used, and that is a word of an entirely different root from גּהה. To what verb this refers is shown by Hos 5:13 : ולא־יגהה מכּם מזור, and healed not for you her ulcerous wound. מזור is the compress, i.e., the bandage closing up the ulcer, then also the ulcer-wound itself; and גּהה is the contrary of עלה, e.g., Jer 8:22; it means the removing of the bandage and the healing of the wound. This is confirmed by the Syr. gho, which in like manner is construed with min, and means to be delivered from something (vid., Bernstein's Lex. Syr. to Kirsch's Chrestomathie). The Aethiop. quadriliteral gâhgěh, to hinder, to cause to cease, corresponds to the causative Syr. agahish. Accordingly גּהה means to be in the condition of abatement, mitigation, healing; and גּהה (as synonym of כּהה, Neh 3:19, with which Parchon combines it), levamen, levatio, in the sense of bodily healing (lxx εὐεκτεῖν ποιεῖ; Venet., after Kimchi, ἀγαθυνεῖ θεραπείαν); and היטיב גּהה (cf. Pro 15:2) denotes, to bring good improvement, to advance powerfully the recovery. Schultens compares the Arab. jahy, nitescere, disserenari, as Menahem has done ננהּ, but this word is one of the few words which are explained exclusively from the Syriac (and Aethiop.). גּרם (here and at Pro 25:15) is the word interchanging with עצם, Pro 15:30; Pro 16:24. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Doth good - Even to the body; it contributes much to bodily health and vigour. Drieth - Wastes the marrow of the bones, and the moisture and strength of the body. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| 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. |
13 A merry [08056] heart [03820] maketh a cheerful [03190] countenance [06440]: but by sorrow [06094] of the heart [03820] the spirit [07307] is broken [05218].
30 A sound [04832] heart [03820] is the life [02416] of the flesh [01320]: but envy [07068] the rottenness [07538] of the bones [06106].
24 Pleasant [05278] words [0561] are as an honeycomb [06688] [01706], sweet [04966] to the soul [05315], and health [04832] to the bones [06106].
30 The light [03974] of the eyes [05869] rejoiceth [08055] the heart [03820]: and a good [02896] report [08052] maketh [01878] the bones [06106] fat [01878].
15 By long [0753] forbearing [0639] is a prince [07101] persuaded [06601], and a soft [07390] tongue [03956] breaketh [07665] the bone [01634].
2 The tongue [03956] of the wise [02450] useth knowledge [01847] aright [03190]: but the mouth [06310] of fools [03684] poureth out [05042] foolishness [0200].
19 And next to him [03027] repaired [02388] Ezer [05829] the son [01121] of Jeshua [03442], the ruler [08269] of Mizpah [04709], another [08145] piece [04060] over against the going up [05927] to the armoury [05402] at the turning [04740] of the wall.
22 Is there no balm [06875] in Gilead [01568]; is there no physician [07495] there? why then [03588] is not the health [0724] of the daughter [01323] of my people [05971] recovered [05927]?
13 When Ephraim [0669] saw [07200] his sickness [02483], and Judah [03063] saw his wound [04205], then went [03212] Ephraim [0669] to the Assyrian [0804], and sent [07971] to king [04428] Jareb [03377] [07378]: yet could [03201] he not heal [07495] you, nor cure [01455] you of your wound [04205].
13 A merry [08056] heart [03820] maketh a cheerful [03190] countenance [06440]: but by sorrow [06094] of the heart [03820] the spirit [07307] is broken [05218].