What Does Proverbs 12:25 Mean in the King James?
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same heart anxiety bends downward is the heart a good word can make glad.
THE MEANING
Anxiety presses your heart downward, while a good word can make that same heart glad. The verse holds both as real forces now: what occupies the heart can weigh it down, and what reaches it in speech can shift its inner state.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A heavy heart is not sealed inside its heaviness: a good word can reach it and bring gladness.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
davar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; a word, matter, or thing.
Davar can mean both a spoken word and a matter or thing. The verse presents the good word as something that reaches the heart with real effect, not as empty sound.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
This is the word in the verse: what is spoken is also something that acts upon the heart.
dibber: To speak or say.
דִּבֵּר
The verbal branch links the word that gladdens the heart to the act of speaking.
יְשַׂמְּחֶנָּה
yesamchennah
GROWS FROM
שמח
To rejoice; in the intensive form, to make glad.
“maketh it glad” in this verse is yesamchennah. The verb comes from the root for rejoicing and uses a form that makes glad. The good word does not merely describe a happy heart; it brings the heart into gladness.
ALSO GROWS
samach: To rejoice.
שָׂמַח
The heart’s gladness belongs to the same root as rejoicing.
simchah: Joy or gladness.
שִׂמְחָה
This noun names the state the good word brings about.
simmeach: To gladden or make glad.
שִׂמֵּחַ
This form echoes the verse’s active claim that the word causes gladness.
דְּאָגָה
de'agah
GROWS FROM
דאג
To be anxious, care, or be concerned.
The Hebrew word translated “heaviness” names anxiety or care. The heart is pressed down by what fills it with concern, then met by a word that can move it toward gladness.
ALSO GROWS
da'ag: To be anxious or take thought.
דָּאַג
The verb shows the anxious concern contained in the noun translated “heaviness.”
yid'ag: He will be anxious or care.
יִדְאַג
This form shows anxiety as an inner state a person undergoes, rather than the heart’s permanent nature.
THE PATTERN
Words act upon the inner life: a timely good word can bring gladness, healing, and strength.
A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.THE THREAD
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:The Hebrew word for “words” here, debarim, comes from the same root as davar in Proverbs. Deuteronomy places words in the heart; Proverbs shows a good word acting on that heart and changing how it feels.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us