14 The (A)spirit of a person can endure his sickness,
But as for a (B)broken spirit, who can endure it?

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14 A person’s spirit[a] sustains him through sickness—
but who can bear[b] a crushed spirit?[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 18:14 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.
  2. Proverbs 18:14 sn This is a rhetorical question, asserting that very few can cope with depression.
  3. Proverbs 18:14 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.

14 The human spirit can endure in sickness,
    but a crushed spirit who can bear?(A)

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