Ecclesiastes 7:3
Sorrow is better than joy; when the face is sad the mind gets better.
Bible in Basic English
In The King James Version
Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
In Context
Cross References
Psalms 119:67Before I was in trouble I went out of the way; but now I keep your word.
Psalms 126:5Those who put in seed with weeping will get in the grain with cries of joy.
Jeremiah 31:8See, I will take them from the north country, and get them from the inmost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the feeble-footed, the woman with child and her who is in birth-pains together: a very great army, they will come back here.
Jeremiah 50:4In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping and making prayer to the Lord their God.
Daniel 10:2In those days I, Daniel, gave myself up to grief for three full weeks.
Zechariah 12:10And I will send down on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of prayer; and their eyes will be turned to the one who was wounded by their hands: and they will be weeping for him as for an only son, and their grief for him will be bitter, like the grief of one sorrowing for his oldest son.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 7:2-7
The Value of a Good Name. 1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5 It is better to hear the rebuke of… Read the whole commentary →