Proverbs 15:13 - Exposition

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. The face is the index of the condition of the mind.

"In the forehead and the eye

The lecture of the mind doth lie."

And, again, "A blithe heart makes a blooming visage" (comp. Ecclesiasticus 13:25, etc.). Septuagint, "When the heart is glad, the face bloometh ( θάλλει )." But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken ( Proverbs 12:25 ). Happiness is shown in the outward look, but sorrow has a deeper and more abiding influence; it touches the inner life, destroys the natural elasticity, creates despondency and despair (comp. Proverbs 16:24 ; Proverbs 17:22 ). Corn. a Lapide quotes St. Gregory Nazianzen's definition—

"Laetitia quidnam? Mentis est diffusio.

Tristitia? Cordis morsus et turbatio."

Hitzig and others translate the second clause, "But in sorrow of heart is the breath oppressed." It is doubtful if the words can be so rendered, and certainly the parallelism is not improved thereby.