New Living Translation
Ecclesiastes 7:2
2Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies— so the living should take this to heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.
- English Standard Version (ESV)It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.
- New King James Version (NKJV)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 take it to heart.
Context of Ecclesiastes 7:2
1A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you are born. Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies— so the living should take this to heart. 3Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. 4A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 7Ecclesiastes 7:2 word by word
ט֞וֹב לָלֶ֣כֶת אֶל־בֵּֽית־אֵ֗בֶל מִלֶּ֙כֶת֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית מִשְׁתֶּ֔ה בַּאֲשֶׁ֕ר ה֖וּא ס֣וֹף כָּל־הָאָדָ֑ם וְהַחַ֖י יִתֵּ֥ן אֶל־לִבּֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- betterטוֹבţôb · pleasantH2896
- to goיָלַךְyâlak · to walkH3212
- to the houseבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: homeH1004
- of mourningאֵ֫בֶל'êbel · mourningH60
- of feastingמִשְׁתֶּהmishteh · feastH4960
- forבַאֲשֶׁר'ăsher · in whichH834
- the endסוֹףsôph · endH5490
- of all menאָדָם'âdâm · manH120
- and the livingחַיchay · aliveH2416
- will layנָתַןnâthan · to give: putH5414
- to his heartלֵבlêb · heartH3820
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 7:2
- Genesis 48:1One day not long after this, word came to Joseph, “Your father is failing rapidly.” So Joseph went to visit his father, and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
- Genesis 49:2“Come and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father.
- Genesis 50:15But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said.
- Job 1:4Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them.
- Isaiah 5:11What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk.
- Isaiah 22:12At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
- Amos 6:3You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.
- Matthew 5:4God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Matthew 14:6But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him,
- 1 Peter 4:3You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
- Numbers 23:10Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust? Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people? Let me die like the righteous; let my life end like theirs.”
- Deuteronomy 32:29Oh, that they were wise and could understand this! Oh, that they might know their fate!
- Romans 6:21And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.
- Philippians 3:19They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.
- Hebrews 9:27And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
- Deuteronomy 32:46he added: “Take to heart all the words of warning I have given you today. Pass them on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions.
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2It is better to go to the house of mourning - Birthdays were generally kept with great festivity, and to these the wise man most probably refers; but according to his maxim, the miseries of life were so many and so oppressive that the day of a man's death was to be preferred to the day of his birth. But, in dependently of the allusion, it is much more profitable to visit the house of mourning for the dead than the house of festivity. In the former we find…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2That - Namely, what is seen in the house of mourning. Lay it to his heart - Consider it attentively.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-4These proverbs are like the sayings in the Book of Proverbs.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. Proving that it is not a sensual enjoyment of earthly goods which is meant in Ec 3:13; 5:18. A thankful use of these is right, but frequent feasting Solomon had found dangerous to piety in his own case. So Job's fear (Ec 1:4, 5). The house of feasting often shuts out thoughts of God and eternity. The sight of the dead in the "house of mourning" causes "the living" to think of their own "end."Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 7:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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