the Third Week after Easter
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Nova Vulgata
Ecclesiastes 17:22
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
Animus gaudens tatem floridam facit ; spiritus tristis exsiccat ossa.
Animus gaudens tatem floridam facit;
spiritus tristis exsiccat ossa.
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
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.
