18:14

Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:

14a
The spirit of a man can endure his sickness,

14b but who can survive a broken spirit ?

The main contrast in this verse is between a person’s ⌊normal, healthy⌋ spirit and a crushed spirit. A healthy attitude can help a person endure physical illness. By contrast, mental depression is unbearable, because a person no longer desires to live.

The Hebrew phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “broken spirit” in 18:14b also occurs in Proverbs 15:13b and 17:22b. The Berean Standard Bible translates this phrase as “crushes the spirit” in 15:13b and as “broken spirit” in 17:22b. However, in those verses the contrast is with “a joyful heart.”

18:14a

The spirit of a man can endure his sickness: In this context, the phrase The spirit of a man refers to a person’s attitude. Specifically, it refers to his will-power or his desire to live. It is implied that this person has a positive, healthy attitude and that his desire to live is strong. Such a person is able to endure sickness. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

A person’s spirit can endure sickness (God’s Word)
-or-
Your will to live can sustain you when you are sick (Good News Translation)

18:14b

but who can survive a broken spirit?: The phrase a broken spirit refers to a person who is depressed or very discouraged. A person with that mental or emotional state has lost the desire to live. His broken spirit becomes a figurative burden that needs to be carried. It does not help him in a time of sickness.

This clause is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes that no one can bear a broken spirit. Some other ways to translate this rhetorical question are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

but who can bear a crushed spirit? (NET Bible)
-or-
But if a person is depressed, what hope does he have?

• As a statement. For example:

but no one can live with a broken spirit (New Century Version)
-or-
but nothing helps when we give up (Contemporary English Version)

Translate this negative emphasis in a way that is most natural in your language.

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