What Does Proverbs 25:25 Mean in the King James?
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
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
A message heard from far away can reach the living self with the immediacy of cold water.
THE MEANING
Good news reaches you across distance like cold water reaching a thirsty living soul. What you hear can refresh you even when its source is far away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Distance does not make encouragement powerless: the belief that only nearby help can refresh you loses its hold here.
THE ROOT
שְׁמוּעָה
shemuʿah
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ (shamaʿ): hear, listen.
The Hebrew word for good news is a report that is heard, from the root meaning hear or listen. Its source may be far away, but what is heard still reaches and refreshes the living self.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: hear, listen
שָׁמַע
This verb makes the link between the report and its reception: the news arrives by being heard.
shemiʿah: hearing, the act of hearing
שְׁמִיעָה
This noun names the act through which the distant report reaches the person who receives it.
נֶפֶשׁ
nephesh
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh (naphash): the living self or person; in verb forms, to rest or be refreshed.
Nephesh names the living self, and the same consonants appear in a verb for being refreshed. The cool water reaches a whole living person, not an abstract idea of a soul.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh chayyah: living creature
נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה
This phrase uses nephesh for a living being, keeping the verse’s recipient concrete: a living person receiving refreshment.
veyinnāfēsh: may be refreshed, may rest
וְיִנָּפֵשׁ
This verb shares the root consonants and shows the family linking the living self with refreshment.
עֲיֵפָה
ʿayefah
GROWS FROM
עיף
ʿ-y-p (ʿayef): be weary, faint, exhausted.
“thirsty” in this verse is ʿayefah. Alongside the KJV’s thirst image, the Hebrew adjective names weariness and faintness. The water and the good report meet someone depleted, bringing refreshment to a tired living self.
ALSO GROWS
ʿayef: weary, faint
עָיֵף
This form shares the root and describes the depleted state the verse’s images meet.
ʿayefim: weary ones
עֲיֵפִים
The plural form carries the same sense of exhaustion, showing the root can describe people whose strength is spent.
THE PATTERN
Provision and life-giving news can reach a depleted person and renew the living self.
The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!THE THREAD
The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.The phrase “good report” repeats the same Hebrew word as “good news” in this verse. The shared root ties hearing to renewal: one image cools the weary self, while the other makes the bones fat.
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