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Wednesday, July 9th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Good News Translation

Proverbs 15:13

When people are happy, they smile, but when they are sad, they look depressed.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Contentment;   Countenance;   Heart;   Thompson Chain Reference - Cheerfulness;   Cheerfulness-Despondency;   Joy-Sorrow;   Social Duties;   Sorrow;   The Topic Concordance - Countenance;   Heart;   Sorrow;   Spirit/souls;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Spirit;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Disease;   Heart;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Nehemiah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Countenance;   Face;   Proverbs, Book of;   Spirit;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Broken;   Countenance;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cheer;   Countenance;   Spirit;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A joyful heart makes a face cheerful,but a sad heart produces a broken spirit.
Hebrew Names Version
A glad heart makes a cheerful face; But an aching heart breaks the spirit.
King James Version
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
English Standard Version
A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.
New American Standard Bible
A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.
New Century Version
Happiness makes a person smile, but sadness can break a person's spirit.
Amplified Bible
A heart full of joy and goodness makes a cheerful face, But when a heart is full of sadness the spirit is crushed.
World English Bible
A glad heart makes a cheerful face; But an aching heart breaks the spirit.
Geneva Bible (1587)
A ioyfull heart maketh a chearefull countenance: but by the sorow of the heart the minde is heauie.
Legacy Standard Bible
A glad heart makes a face look good,But when the heart is pained, the spirit is broken.
Berean Standard Bible
A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance, but sorrow of the heart crushes the spirit.
Contemporary English Version
Happiness makes you smile; sorrow can crush you.
Complete Jewish Bible
A glad heart makes a face happy, but heartache breaks the spirit.
Darby Translation
A joyful heart maketh a cheerful countenance; but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Easy-to-Read Version
If you are happy, your face shows it. If you are sad, your spirit feels defeated.
George Lamsa Translation
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance; but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Lexham English Bible
A heart of gladness will make good countenance, but in sorrow of heart a spirit is broken.
Literal Translation
A joyful heart makes a good face, but by grief of heart the spirit is stricken.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A mery herte maketh a chearfull countenaunce, but an vnquyet mynde maketh it heuy.
American Standard Version
A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance; But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Bible in Basic English
A glad heart makes a shining face, but by the sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance; but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
King James Version (1611)
A merry heart maketh a cheerefull countenance: but by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A mery heart maketh a chearfull countenaunce: but by the sorowe of the heart the mynde is heauy.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
When the heart rejoices the countenance is cheerful; but when it is in sorrow, the countenance is sad.
English Revised Version
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A ioiful herte makith glad the face; the spirit is cast doun in the morenyng of soule.
Update Bible Version
A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance; But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Webster's Bible Translation
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
New English Translation
A joyful heart makes the face cheerful, but by a painful heart the spirit is broken.
New King James Version
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
New Living Translation
A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.
New Life Bible
A glad heart makes a happy face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.
New Revised Standard
A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A joyful heart, maketh a pleasing countenance, - but, in sorrow of heart, is a stricken spirit.
Douay-Rheims Bible
A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by grief of mind the spirit is cast down.
Revised Standard Version
A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Young's Literal Translation
A joyful heart maketh glad the face, And by grief of heart is the spirit smitten.
THE MESSAGE
A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.

Contextual Overview

13 When people are happy, they smile, but when they are sad, they look depressed.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

merry: Proverbs 15:15, Proverbs 17:22, 2 Corinthians 1:12

by: Proverbs 12:25, Proverbs 18:14, Nehemiah 2:2, John 14:1, 2 Corinthians 2:7, 2 Corinthians 7:10

Reciprocal: Psalms 13:2 - sorrow Proverbs 14:10 - heart

Cross-References

Genesis 15:1
After this, Abram had a vision and heard the Lord say to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward."
Genesis 15:2
But Abram answered, "Sovereign Lord , what good will your reward do me, since I have no children? My only heir is Eliezer of Damascus.
Genesis 15:6
Abram put his trust in the Lord , and because of this the Lord was pleased with him and accepted him.
Genesis 15:7
Then the Lord said to him, "I am the Lord , who led you out of Ur in Babylonia, to give you this land as your own."
Genesis 15:8
But Abram asked, "Sovereign Lord , how can I know that it will be mine?"
Genesis 15:11
Vultures came down on the bodies, but Abram drove them off.
Genesis 15:12
When the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and fear and terror came over him.
Genesis 15:13
The Lord said to him, "Your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land; they will be slaves there and will be treated cruelly for four hundred years.
Genesis 17:8
I will give to you and to your descendants this land in which you are now a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan will belong to your descendants forever, and I will be their God."
Exodus 1:11
So the Egyptians put slave drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labor. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centers for the king.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance,.... Or, a "joyful heart" c; that is joyful in the God of its salvation; that rejoices in Christ Jesus; is filled with joy and peace through believing in him, in his person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; that has a comfortable view of his justification by his righteousness, of peace and pardon by his blood, of the atonement of his sins by his sacrifice; to whom he has said, "be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee", Matthew 9:2; who has peace in him, though tribulation in the world: as such a man's heart must be made glad, this will make his countenance cheerful, or cause him to lift up his head with joy; as it is in natural things, so it is in spiritual ones;

but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken; a man is dejected, his spirits sink, and it is seen in his countenance: there is a great sympathy between the body and mind, the one is much affected by the other; when the heart is full of sorrow, the animal spirits are low, the nerves are loosened, the whole frame, of nature is enfeebled, and the body emaciated; this is often the case through outward troubles d: physicians say e that grief weakens the strength, and destroys the spirits, more than labour does. "The sorrow of the world worketh death", 2 Corinthians 7:10; and sometimes, through spiritual troubles, a sense of sin and guilt of it, a legal sorrow, which produces a legal contrition of spirit; and such "a wounded spirit who can bear?"

Proverbs 18:14. This is the effect of a mere work of the law upon the conscience; and stands opposed to the spiritual joy, and the effects of it, the Gospel brings.

c לב שמח "cor gaudens", V. L. Baynus. d "Frangit fortia corda dolor", Tibullus, l. 3. Eleg. 2. v. 6. e Fernel. Method. Medendi, l. 7. c. 9. p. 54.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Some prefer to render the last clause, “In sorrow of heart the breath is oppressed.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 15:13. By sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. — Every kind of sorrow worketh death, but that which is the offspring of true repentance. This alone is healthful to the soul. The indulgence of a disposition to sighing tends to destroy life. Every deep sigh throws off a portion of the vital energy.


 
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