13 A joyful heart maketh glad the face, And by grief of heart is the spirit smitten.
A rejoicing heart doth good to the body, And a smitten spirit drieth the bone.
Sorrow in the heart of a man boweth down, And a good word maketh him glad.
All the days of the afflicted `are' evil, And gladness of heart `is' a perpetual banquet.
and the king saith to me, `Wherefore `is' thy face sad, and thou not sick? this is nothing except sadness of heart;' and I fear very much,
For our glorying is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we did conduct ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you;
so that, on the contrary, `it is' rather for you to forgive and to comfort, lest by over abundant sorrow such a one may be swallowed up;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 15
Commentary on Proverbs 15 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
We take these verses together as forming a group which begins with a proverb regarding the good and evil which flows from the tongue, and closes with a proverb regarding the treasure in which blessing is found, and that in which no blessing is found.
Proverbs 15:1
1 A soft answer turneth away wrath,
And a bitter word stirreth up anger.
In the second line, the common word for anger ( אף , from the breathing with the nostrils, Proverbs 14:17) is purposely placed, but in the first, that which denotes anger in the highest degree ( חמה from יחם , cogn. חמם , Arab. hamiya , to glow, like שׁנה from ישׁן ): a mild, gentle word turns away the heat of anger ( excandescentiam ), puts it back, cf. Proverbs 25:15. The Dagesh in רּך follows the rule of the דחיק , i.e. , of the close connection of a word terminating with the accented eh, aah, ah with the following word ( Michlol 63b). The same is the meaning of the Latin proverb:
Frangitur ira gravis
Quando est responsio suavis