Proverbs 17:22
A glad heart makes a healthy body, but a crushed spirit makes the bones dry.
Bible in Basic English
In The King James Version
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
In Context
21He who has an unwise son gets sorrow for himself, and the father of a foolish son has no joy.
23A sinner takes an offering out of his robe, to get a decision for himself in a cause.
Cross References
Psalms 22:15\22:14\I am flowing away like water, and all my bones are out of place: my heart is like wax, it has become soft in my body.
Psalms 102:3\102:2\Let not your face be veiled from me in the day of my trouble; give ear to me, and let my cry be answered quickly.
Proverbs 15:13A glad heart makes a shining face, but by the sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Ecclesiastes 2:2Of laughing I said, It is foolish; and of joy--What use is it?
Romans 5:2Through whom, in the same way, we have been able by faith to come to this grace in which we now are; and let us have joy in hope of the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 7:10For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of 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 →