What Does Proverbs 25:25 Mean?
As cold waters on a faint living soul, so is good report from a far land.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.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.
“good report” in this verse is shemuʿah. 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.
“living soul” in this verse is nephesh. 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.
“faint living soul” 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 gladdens the heart, and a good hearing makes the bones fat.Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters, and whoever has no silver, come, break open and eat. Yes, come, break open wine and milk, without silver and without price.And how will they herald unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!THE THREAD
The light of the eyes gladdens the heart, and a good hearing makes 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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