Proverbs 18:14

A person’s spirit ¹  sustains him through sickness – but who can bear ²  a crushed spirit? ³ 

Job 1:20,21; Job 2:7-10; Job 6:4; Job 7:14,15; Job 10:15-17; Ps 30:9,10; Ps 32:3,4; Ps 38:2-4; Ps 42:10,11; Ps 55:3,5; Ps 77:2,3; Ps 88:14-16; Ps 109:22; Ps 147:3; Pr 17:22; Mr 14:33,34; Ro 5:3-5; Ro 8:35-37; 2Co 1:12; 2Co 2:7; 2Co 12:9,10; Jas 1:2; 1Pe 1:6

¹ 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 sn This is a rhetorical question, asserting that very few can cope with depression.

³ 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.