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12 Hope[a] deferred[b] makes the heart sick,[c]
but a longing fulfilled[d] is like[e] a tree of life.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 13:12 sn The word “hope” (תּוֹחֶלֶת [tokhelet] from יָחַל [yakhal]) also has the implication of a tense if not anxious wait.
  2. Proverbs 13:12 tn The verb is the Pual participle from מָשַׁךְ (mashakh, “to draw; to drag”).
  3. Proverbs 13:12 sn Failure in realizing one’s hopes can be depressing or discouraging. People can bear frustration only so long (W. G. Plaut, Proverbs, 153).
  4. Proverbs 13:12 tn Heb “a desire that comes”; cf. CEV “a wish that comes true.”
  5. Proverbs 13:12 tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
    (A)but a desire fulfilled is (B)a tree of life.

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