Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
A Conservative Version
In The King James Version
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
In Context
21He who begets a fool [it is] to his sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy.
23A wicked man receives a bribe out of the bosom, to pervert the ways of justice.
Cross References
Psalms 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to my jaws, and thou have brought me into the dust of death.
Psalms 102:3For my days consume away like smoke, and my bones are burned as a firebrand.
Proverbs 15:13A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Ecclesiastes 2:2I said of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth, What does it do?
Romans 5:2through whom also we have access by faith for this grace in which we stand, and we take pride in hope of the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 7:10For sorrow toward God works repentance for salvation without regret, but the sorrow of the world works death.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:22
21 He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy. This expresses that very emphatically which many wise and good men feel very sensibly, what a grievous vexatious thing it is to have a foolish wicked child. See here, 1. How uncertain all our creature-comforts are, so that we are often not only disappointed in them, but that proves the greatest cross in which we promised ourselves most satisfaction. There was joy when a man-child was born into the world, and yet, if he prove… Read the whole commentary →