Bible Strands
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A wisdom teacher (traditionally Solomon) addresses a broad audience of those seeking instruction, in the general didactic mode of Proverbs with no specific narrative occasion.
The words — מְ֭מֻשָּׁכָה (me.mu.sha.khah), "deferred," derives from the root נשך (nashakh), "to bite" or "to sting," so the word carries the sense of hope being pricked or gnawed by its delay.
The thread — Proverbs 13:19 repeats the second clause almost verbatim ("desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul"), and John 16:22 moves from present sorrow to promised joy in a narrative setting.
Why it lands — It names a real cost of waiting—hope deferred does something to the heart—rather than dismissing the pain of delay as mere discipline. The reader is asked to hold both truths: the waiting hurts, and the fulfillment is genuinely life.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Cross-references
- John 16:22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
- Proverbs 13:19 Desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but turning from evil is detestable to fools.
- Psalms 119:81 My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
- Psalms 17:15 As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied in Your presence.
- Proverbs 3:18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
- Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
- Psalms 69:3 I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- Psalms 143:7 Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Genesis 21:6 Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
- Psalms 40:2 He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.