Ecclesiastes 7:3
Better is vexation than laughing; for through the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
Leeser Tanakh
In The King James Version
Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
In Context
4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of joy.
Cross References
Psalms 119:67Before I was afflicted I was in error; but now I observe thy saying.
Psalms 126:5Those that sow in tears shall reap with joyful song.
Jeremiah 31:8(31:7) Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and I will gather them from the farthest ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she that travaileth with child together: a great assembly shall they return hither.
Jeremiah 50:4In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, shall the children of Israel come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping shall they go, and the Lord their God shall they seek.
Daniel 10:2In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
Zechariah 12:10But I will pour out over the house of David, and over the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they will look up toward me [for every one] whom they have thrust through, and they will lament for him, as one lamenteth for an only son, and weep bitterly for him, as one weepeth bitterly for the first-born.
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 →