What does Proverbs 17:22 mean?

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Proverbs 17:22 KJV

Proverbs · chapter 17 · verse 22

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.Proverbs 17:22 · King James Version

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What Proverbs 17:22 means

Solomon sets a merry heart and a broken spirit side by side as things with physical effects. Drieth the bones is a strong picture of what carrying something heavy does to a body. The verse is not an instruction to cheer up. It is an observation about cost.

Study note provided by TheWay Bible App, separate from the KJV text. Read the full chapter in context and compare interpretations. Report a correction.

Proverbs 17:22 in context

20He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.

21He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.

22A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

23A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

24Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

Read all of Proverbs 17 →

Commentary

Note, 1. It is healthful to be cheerful. The Lord is for the body, and has provided for it, not only meat, but medicine, and has here told us that the best medicine is a merry heart, not a heart addicted to vain, carnal, sensual mirth; Solomon himself said of that mirth, It is not medicine, but madness;

— Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

Cross references

Key words (Strong's)

medicinegêhâha cureH1456 →
brokennâkêʼsmittenH5218 →
spiritrûwachwindH7307 →
driethyâbêshto be ashamed, confused or disappointedH3001 →
merrysâmêachblithe or gleefulH8056 →
heartlêbthe heartH3820 →

Topics

Bible verses about Healing Bible verses about Health and the Body Bible verses about Positivity

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