Proverbs 14:13

13 Even in laughter, a heart may be sad, and the end of joy [may be] grief.

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 house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

12 There is a way [that seems] upright {to} a man, but its end [is] the way of death.

13 Even in laughter, a heart may be sad, and the end of joy [may be] grief.

14 From his ways, the perverse of heart will be satisfied, and {from his own}, [so shall] a good man.

15 The simple will believe every word, but the clever will consider his step.