Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine - Instead of גהה gehah , a medicine, it appears that the Chaldee and Syriac had read in their copies גוה gevah , the body, as they translate in this way. This makes the apposition here more complete: "A merry heart doeth good to the body; but a broken spirit drieth the bones." Nothing has such a direct tendency to ruin health and waste out life as grief, anxiety, fretfulness, bad tempers, etc. All these work death.