What Does Proverbs 15:13 Mean in the King James?
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
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
Gladness brightens the face, while heart-sorrow presses down the ruach, the breath, wind, and spirit moving through a person.
THE MEANING
Gladness within you brightens your face; grief in your heart can press down your ruach, the breath and spirit moving through you. The verse treats inner feeling as embodied: it shows in the countenance and touches your vitality.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that grief is only private thought, with no visible or bodily effect.
THE ROOT
רוּחַ
rûaḥ
GROWS FROM
רוח
To blow or breathe.
The KJV’s “spirit” is ruach, a Hebrew word that also means wind and breath. The verse describes sorrow as pressing down a person’s inward vitality, not merely darkening a private thought.
ALSO GROWS
rûaḥ: Wind
רוּחַ
The same word names moving air, keeping movement and force within the verse’s image of a broken spirit.
rûaḥ: Breath
רוּחַ
The word also names breath, bringing the spirit’s brokenness close to bodily vitality.
שָׂמֵחַ
śāmēaḥ
GROWS FROM
שׂמח
To rejoice, be glad.
The word translated “merry” grows from the same root as the verb “rejoice” and the noun “joy.” The verse presents gladness as something alive within the heart that becomes visible in the face.
ALSO GROWS
śāmaḥ: Rejoice, be glad
שָׂמַח
The verb shares the root of “merry,” showing that the heart’s gladness is active rejoicing.
śimḥāh: Joy, gladness
שִׂמְחָה
The noun names the joy contained in the adjective “merry,” linking inner feeling to its outward effect.
עַצֶּבֶת
ʿatzevet
GROWS FROM
עצב
To feel pain or grieve.
This sorrow comes from a root that can name grief as an action and pain as a condition. The verse places that hurt in the heart and shows it pressing down the ruach.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāṣav: Grieve, feel pain
עָצַב
The verb shows sorrow as pain being experienced, rather than an abstract idea.
ʿeṣev: Pain, sorrow
עֶצֶב
This noun shares the root and makes the hurt within “sorrow of the heart” more tangible.
THE PATTERN
What is carried within becomes visible in a person’s expression and reaches the body’s lived condition.
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.THE THREAD
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.The word “glad” shares the שׂמח root with “merry” in Proverbs 15:13. Psalm 16:9 links that heart-gladness to the body resting, opening the same whole-person movement from inward feeling to embodied life.
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