Bible Strands
Proverbs 17:22
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The text addresses a general audience within a wisdom collection, positioned between observations about the grief of raising a fool and the corruption of judicial bribery. The words — The Hebrew תְּיַבֶּשׁ (te.ya.besh) literally means "dries up," paired with גָּֽרֶם (Ga.rem) for "bones," describing a physical desiccation. The thread — This contrast between internal state and physical vitality appears in Proverbs 15:13 ("cheerful countenance" vs. "crushes the spirit"), Proverbs 12:25 ("weighs down the heart" vs. "cheers it up"), and Proverbs 18:14 (enduring sickness versus surviving a "broken spirit"). Why it lands — The text asserts that emotional condition directly dictates physical resilience; the reader must recognize the physiological reality of emotional health and avoid the corrosive effects of despair.
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
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 15:13 A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance, but sorrow of the heart crushes the spirit.
- Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety weighs down the heart of a man, but a good word cheers it up.
- Proverbs 18:14 The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?
- 2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
- Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
- Romans 5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
- 2 Corinthians 2:7 So instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
- Psalms 102:3 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- Psalms 22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
- Psalms 32:3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.