Proverbs 13:12
King James Version
10 Jun 2026
“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”
חֵפֶץ
Delight, desire, pleasure. Chephets. Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. When God is your delight He shapes your desires.
חַי
Life
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חַי
Life, living. Chay. The quality of being alive. The same root as Chayim, life in its fullness. God breathed chay into Adam's nostrils and he became a living soul.
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תּוֹחֶלֶת
Hope
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תּוֹחֶלֶת
Hope, expectation. Towcheleth. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. It is confident expectation anchored in God's promises.
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חָלָה
is making sick
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חָלָה
properly, to be rubbed or worn; hence (figuratively) to be weak, sick, afflicted; or (causatively) to grieve, make sick; also to stroke (in flattering), entreat
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מָשַׁךְ
deferred
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מָשַׁךְ
to draw, used in a great variety of applications (including to sow, to sound, to prolong, to develop, to march, to remove, to delay, to be tall, etc.)
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לֵב
Heart
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לֵב
Heart, mind, will. Leb. The centre of human personality. Guard your heart above all else for everything you do flows from it.
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יָחַל
Deferred
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יָחַל
To hope, to wait, to look for. Yachal. Hope in God. Confident anticipation of His intervention not passive resignation.
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תַּאֲוָה
a desire
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תַּאֲוָה
a longing; by implication, a delight (subjectively, satisfaction, objectively, a charm)
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