Proverbs 14:13

13 Even when you laugh, your heart can be hurting. And your joy can end in sadness.

Proverbs 14:13 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 14:13

Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful
As Belshazzar's was in the midst of his feast and jollity, when he saw the writing on the wall; so sin may stare a man in the face, and guilt load his conscience and fill him with sorrow, amidst his merriment; a man may put on a merry countenance, and feign a laugh, when his heart is very sorrowful; and oftentimes this sorrow comes by sinful laughter, by mocking at sin and jesting at religion; and the end of that mirth [is] heaviness:
sometimes in this life a sinner mourns at last, and mourns for his wicked mirth, or that he has made himself so merry with religious persons and things, and oftentimes when it is too late; so the end of that mirth the fool in the Gospel promised himself was heaviness, when his soul was required of him; this was the case of the rich man who had his good things here, and his evil things hereafter.

Proverbs 14:13 In-Context

11 The houses of sinners will be destroyed. But the tents of honest people will stand firm.

12 There is a way that may seem right to a man. But in the end it leads to death.

13 Even when you laugh, your heart can be hurting. And your joy can end in sadness.

14 Those who aren't faithful will be paid back for what they've done. And good men will receive rewards for how they've lived.

15 A childish person believes anything. But a wise person thinks about how he lives.