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Sunday, August 24th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

Myles Coverdale Bible

Proverbs 17:22

A mery herte maketh a lusty age, but a sorowfull mide dryeth vp ye bones.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Contentment;   Disease;   Medicine;   Thompson Chain Reference - Cheerfulness;   Cheerfulness-Despondency;   Disease;   Health-Disease;   Joy;   Joy-Sorrow;   Medicine;   Merriment;   Mirth;   Prevention and Cure of Diseases;   Social Duties;   The Topic Concordance - Heart;   Spirit/souls;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Diseases;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Physicians;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Disease;   Heal, Health;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Bones;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Bones;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Medicine;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Bone;   Dry dried drieth;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bone;   Cure;   Medicine;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A joyful heart is good medicine,but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Hebrew Names Version
A cheerful heart makes good medicine, But a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
King James Version
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
English Standard Version
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
New American Standard Bible
A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
New Century Version
A happy heart is like good medicine, but a broken spirit drains your strength.
Amplified Bible
A happy heart is good medicine and a joyful mind causes healing, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
World English Bible
A cheerful heart makes good medicine, But a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Geneva Bible (1587)
A ioyfull heart causeth good health: but a sorowfull minde dryeth the bones.
Legacy Standard Bible
A glad heart is good medicine,But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Berean Standard Bible
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Contemporary English Version
If you are cheerful, you feel good; if you are sad, you hurt all over.
Complete Jewish Bible
A happy heart is good medicine, but low spirits sap one's strength.
Darby Translation
A joyful heart promoteth healing; but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.
Easy-to-Read Version
Happiness is good medicine, but sorrow is a disease.
George Lamsa Translation
A merry heart makes the body healthy; but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Good News Translation
Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time.
Lexham English Bible
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit will dry out bones.
Literal Translation
A cheerful heart makes good healing, but a stricken spirit dries the bone.
American Standard Version
A cheerful heart is a good medicine; But a broken spirit drieth up the bones.
Bible in Basic English
A glad heart makes a healthy body, but a crushed spirit makes the bones dry.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
A merry heart is a good medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
King James Version (1611)
A merrie heart doth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A mery heart make a lustie age: but a sorowfull minde dryeth vp the bones.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A glad heart promotes health; but the bones of a sorrowful man dry up.
English Revised Version
A merry heart is a good medicine: but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A ioiful soule makith likinge age; a sorewful spirit makith drie boonys.
Update Bible Version
A cheerful heart is a good medicine; But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Webster's Bible Translation
A merry heart doeth good [like] a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
New English Translation
A cheerful heart brings good healing, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
New King James Version
A merry heart does good, like medicine, [fn] But a broken spirit dries the bones.
New Living Translation
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength.
New Life Bible
A glad heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
New Revised Standard
A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A joyful heart, worketh an excellent cure, - but, a stricken spirit, drieth up the bone.
Douay-Rheims Bible
A joyful mind maketh age flourishing: a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones.
Revised Standard Version
A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.
Young's Literal Translation
A rejoicing heart doth good to the body, And a smitten spirit drieth the bone.
THE MESSAGE
A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

Contextual Overview

22 A mery herte maketh a lusty age, but a sorowfull mide dryeth vp ye bones.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

merry: Proverbs 12:25, Proverbs 15:13, Proverbs 18:14, Ecclesiastes 9:7-9, Romans 5:2-5

like a medicine: Heb. to a medicine

a broken: Psalms 22:15, Psalms 32:3, Psalms 32:4, Psalms 102:3-5, 2 Corinthians 2:7, 2 Corinthians 7:10

Reciprocal: Nehemiah 8:10 - the joy Psalms 102:5 - the voice Proverbs 14:30 - rottenness Proverbs 15:15 - but Proverbs 15:30 - a good Isaiah 66:14 - your bones

Cross-References

Genesis 17:3
Then fell Abram vpon his face.And God talked furthur, with him, and sayde:
Genesis 17:6
& I wil multiplye the exceadingly, and wil make people of ye, yee and kynges also shal come out of the.
Genesis 17:8
And vnto the and to thy sede after the, will I geue the lande, wherin thou art a straunger: euen all the lande of Canaan for an euerlastinge possession, and will be their God.
Genesis 17:9
And God sayde morouer vnto Abraham: Kepe my couenaunt then, thou and they sede after the.
Genesis 17:15
And God sayde vnto Abraham: Sarai thy wyfe shall nomore be called Sarai, but Sara shal be hir name:
Genesis 18:33
And the LORDE wente his waye, whan he had left talkynge with Abraham. And Abraham returned vnto his place.
Exodus 20:22
And the LORDE spake vnto him: Thus shalt thou saye vnto the children of Israel: Ye haue sene, that I haue talked wt you from heauen:
Deuteronomy 5:4
He talked with vs face to face out of the fyre vpo the mount.
Judges 6:21
Then the angell of the LORDE stretched out the staffe that he had in his hande, and with the ende of it he touched the flesh and the vnleuended floure: and the fyre came out of the rocke, and consumed the flesh and the vnleuended floure. And the angell of the LORDE vanyshed out of his sighte.
Judges 13:20
And wha the flamme wente vp from ye altare towarde heauen, the angell of the LORDE asceded vp in the flamme of the altare. Whan Manoah & his wife sawe yt, they fell downe to ye earth vpo their faces.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A merry heart doth good [like] a medicine,.... Does the body good, makes it healthful and vigorous. Cheerfulness of spirit has a great influence upon the body, and much contributes to the health and welfare of it; see Ecclesiastes 9:7; and especially a heart full of spiritual joy, peace of conscience, flowing from the blood of Christ, joy in the Holy Ghost, a rejoicing in Christ Jesus and his righteousness, and in hope of the glory of God, much affect even the outward man. Or, "a merry heart makes a good medicine" x; it is a good medicine of itself; raises the spirits, invigorates the body, and fits it for service and business: or, "does a medicine good" y; makes that operate kindly, and to a good purpose: or, as Jarchi, makes the countenance shine well, makes a serene countenance; which Schultens approves, and, from the use of the word in the Arabic language, confirms;

but a broken spirit drieth the bones; a spirit broken with sorrow, whether on spiritual or temporal accounts; as it weakens the nerves, it dries up the marrow in the bones, and emaciates the body, and reduces it to a skeleton: the joy or grief of the mind, those passions of the soul, have a very great influence upon the body, either for its good or hurt.

x לב שמח ייטב גהה "cor hilare bonam facit sanationem", Michaelis. y So R. Joseph Kimchi; "bonificat sive meliorem reddit medicinam", some in Valablus; "bene medicinam facit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Doeth good like a medicine - Better, worketh a good healing. Omit “like.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 17:22. 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, &c. All these work death.


 
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