Proverbs 14:10

14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, ¹ 

and with its joy no one else ²  can share. ³ 

Proverbs 15:13

15:13 A joyful heart ⁴  makes the face cheerful, ⁵ 

but by a painful heart the spirit is broken.

Proverbs 15:15

15:15 All the days ⁶  of the afflicted ⁷  are bad, ⁸ 

but one with ⁹  a cheerful heart has a continual feast. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 15:23

15:23 A person has joy ¹¹  in giving an appropriate answer, ¹² 

and a word at the right time ¹³  – how good it is!

Proverbs 17:22

17:22 A cheerful heart ¹⁴  brings good healing, ¹⁵ 

but a crushed spirit ¹⁶  dries up the bones. ¹⁷ 

Proverbs 18:14

18:14 A person’s spirit ¹⁸  sustains him through sickness –

but who can bear ¹⁹  a crushed spirit? ²⁰ 

Nehemiah 2:1-2

Nehemiah Is Permitted to Go to Jerusalem

2:1 Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, ²¹  I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously ²²  I had not been depressed ²³  in the king’s presence. ²⁴  2:2 So the king said to me, “Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren’t sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?” This made me very fearful.

Psalms 38:6

38:6 I am dazed ²⁵  and completely humiliated; ²⁶ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

Psalms 42:11

42:11 Why are you depressed, ²⁷  O my soul? ²⁸ 

Why are you upset? ²⁹ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ³⁰ 

Mark 14:33-34

14:33 He took Peter, James, ³¹  and John with him, and became very troubled and distressed. 14:34 He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay alert.”

[14:10]  ¹ tn Heb “bitterness of its soul.”

[14:10]  ² tn Heb “stranger” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[14:10]  ³ tn The verb is the Hitpael of II עָרַב (’arav), which means “to take in pledge; to give in pledge; to exchange.” Here it means “to share [in].” The proverb is saying that there are joys and sorrows that cannot be shared. No one can truly understand the deepest feelings of another.

[15:13]  ⁴ tn The contrast in this proverb is between the “joyful heart” (Heb “a heart of joy,” using an attributive genitive) and the “painful heart” (Heb “pain of the heart,” using a genitive of specification).

[15:13]  ⁵ sn The verb יֵיטִב (yetiv) normally means “to make good,” but here “to make the face good,” that is, there is a healthy, favorable, uplifted expression. The antithesis is the pained heart that crushes the spirit. C. H. Toy observes that a broken spirit is expressed by a sad face, while a cheerful face shows a courageous spirit (Proverbs [ICC], 308).

[15:15]  ⁶ sn The “days” represent what happens on those days (metonymy of subject).

[15:15]  ⁷ tn The contrast is between the “afflicted” and the “good of heart” (a genitive of specification, “cheerful/healthy heart/spirit/attitude”).

[15:15]  ⁸ tn Or “evil”; or “catastrophic.”

[15:15]  ⁹ tn “one with” is supplied.

[15:15]  ¹⁰ sn The image of a continual feast signifies the enjoyment of what life offers (cf. TEV “happy people…enjoy life”). The figure is a hypocatastasis; among its several implications are joy, fulfillment, abundance, pleasure.

[15:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “joy to the man” or “the man has joy.”

[15:23]  ¹² tn Heb “in the answer of his mouth” (so ASV); NASB “in an apt answer.” The term “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what he says. But because the parallelism is loosely synonymous, the answer given here must be equal to the good word spoken in season. So it is an answer that is proper or fitting.

[15:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “in its season.” To say the right thing at the right time is useful; to say the right thing at the wrong time is counterproductive.

[17:22]  ¹⁴ sn Heb “a heart of rejoicing”; KJV “a merry heart”; NAB, NASB “a joyful heart.” This attributive genitive refers to the mind or psyche. A happy and healthy outlook on life brings healing.

[17:22]  ¹⁵ tc The word “healing” is a hapax legomenon; some have suggested changes, such as to Arabic jihatu (“face”) or to גְּוִיָּה (gÿviah, “body”) as in the Syriac and Tg. Prov 17:22, but the MT makes sense as it is and should be retained.

[17:22]  ¹⁶ sn The “crushed spirit” refers to one who is depressed (cf. NAB “a depressed spirit”). “Crushed” is figurative (an implied comparison) for the idea that one’s psyche or will to go on is beaten down by circumstances.

[17:22]  ¹⁷ sn The “bones” figuratively represent the whole body encased in a boney framework (metonymy of subject). “Fat bones” in scripture means a healthy body (3:8; 15:30; 16:24), but “dried up” bones signify unhealthiness and lifelessness (cf. Ezek 37:1-4).

[18:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the spirit of a man.” Because the verb of this clause is a masculine form, some have translated this line as “with spirit a man sustains,” but that is an unnecessary change.

[18:14]  ¹⁹ sn This is a rhetorical question, asserting that very few can cope with depression.

[18:14]  ²⁰ sn The figure of a “crushed spirit” (ASV, NAB, NCV, NRSV “a broken spirit,” comparing depression to something smashed or crushed) suggests a broken will, a loss of vitality, despair, and emotional pain. In physical sickness one can fall back on the will to live; but in depression even the will to live is gone.

[2:1]  ²¹ tc The translation reads with the LXX וְיַיִן לְפָנַי (vÿyayin lÿfanay, “and wine before me”) rather than יַיִן לְפָנָיו (yayin lÿfanayv, “wine before him”) of the MT. The initial vav (ו) on original וְיַיִן probably dropped out due to haplograpy or orthographic confusion with the two yods (י) which follow. The final vav on לְפָנָיו in the MT was probably added due to dittography with the vav on the immediately following word.

[2:1]  ²² tc The translation reads לְפָנֵים (lÿfanim, “formerly”) rather than לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “to his face”) of the MT. The MT seems to suggest that Nehemiah was not sad before the king, which is contrary to what follows.

[2:1]  ²³ tn Or “showed him a sullen face.” See HALOT 1251 s.v. רַע, רָע 9.

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn This expression is either to be inferred from the context, or perhaps one should read לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “before him”; cf. the MT) in addition to לְפָנִים (lÿfanim, “formerly”). See preceding note on the word “previously.”

[38:6]  ²⁵ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[42:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:11]  ²⁸ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

[42:11]  ³⁰ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.

[14:33]  ³¹ tn Grk “and James,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.