Proverbs 14:13

Even in laughter the heart may ache, ¹  and the end ²  of joy may be ³  grief.

Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.

Even in laughter the heart may be in pain, And the end of joy may be grief.

Laughter can conceal a heavy heart; when the laughter ends, the grief remains.

Sure, those people appear to be having a good time, but all that laughter will end in heartbreak.

Even while laughing the heart may be sad; and after joy comes sorrow.

Even in laughter the heart is sad, and the end of joy is grief.

Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, And the end of mirth may be grief.

Even in laughter the heart may ache, ¹  and the end ²  of joy may be ³  grief.

¹ sn No joy is completely free of grief. There is a joy that is superficial and there is underlying pain that will remain after the joy is gone.

² tn Heb “and its end, joy, is grief.” The suffix may be regarded as an Aramaism, a proleptic suffix referring to “joy.”

³ tn The phrase “may be” is not in the Hebrew but is supplied from the parallelism, which features an imperfect of possibility.