Ecclesiastes 7:3
Better [is] sorrow than laughter, For by the sadness of the face the heart becometh better.
Young's Literal Translation
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 a house of mourning, And the heart of fools in a house of mirth.
Cross References
Psalms 119:67Before I am afflicted, I — I am erring, And now Thy saying I have kept.
Psalms 126:5Those sowing in tears, with singing do reap,
Jeremiah 31:8Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them [are] blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one — together, A great assembly — they turn back hither.
Jeremiah 50:4In those days, and at that time, An affirmation of Jehovah, Come in do sons of Israel, They and sons of Judah together, Going on and weeping they go, And Jehovah their God they seek.
Daniel 10:2'In those days, I, Daniel, have been mourning three weeks of days;
Zechariah 12:10And I have poured on the house of David, And on the inhabitant of Jerusalem, A spirit of grace and supplications, And they have looked unto Me whom they pierced, And they have mourned over it, Like a mourning over the only one, And they have been in bitterness for it, Like a bitterness over 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 →