Ecclesiastes 7:3

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Sorrow is better than joy; when the face is sad the mind gets better.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • 2 Cor 7:9-9 : 9 Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything. 10 For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death. 11 For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.
  • Heb 12:10-11 : 10 For they truly gave us punishment for a short time, as it seemed good to them; but he does it for our profit, so that we may become holy as he is. 11 At the time all punishment seems to be pain and not joy: but after, those who have been trained by it get from it the peace-giving fruit of righteousness.
  • Rom 5:3-4 : 3 And not only so, but let us have joy in our troubles: in the knowledge that trouble gives us the power of waiting; 4 And waiting gives experience; and experience, hope:
  • Jas 4:8-9 : 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind. 9 Be troubled, with sorrow and weeping; let your laughing be turned to sorrow and your joy to grief. 10 Make yourselves low in the eyes of the Lord and you will be lifted up by him.
  • 2 Cor 4:17 : 17 For our present trouble, which is only for a short time, is working out for us a much greater weight of glory;
  • Jas 1:2-4 : 2 Let it be all joy to you, my brothers, when you undergo tests of every sort; 3 Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope; 4 But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing nothing.
  • Ps 119:67 : 67 Before I was in trouble I went out of the way; but now I keep your word.
  • Ps 119:71 : 71 It is good for me to have been through trouble; so that I might come to the knowledge of your rules.
  • Ps 126:5-6 : 5 Those who put in seed with weeping will get in the grain with cries of joy. 6 Though a man may go out weeping, taking his vessel of seed with him; he will come again in joy, with the corded stems of grain in his arms.
  • Jer 31:8-9 : 8 See, 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. 9 They will come with weeping, and going before them I will be their guide: guiding them by streams of water in a straight way where there is no falling: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is the first of my sons.
  • Jer 31:15-20 : 15 So has the Lord said: In Ramah there is a sound of crying, weeping and bitter sorrow; Rachel weeping for her children; she will not be comforted for their loss. 16 The Lord has said this: Keep your voice from sorrow and your eyes from weeping: for your work will be rewarded, says the Lord; and they will come back from the land of their hater. 17 And there is hope for the future, says the Lord; and your children will come back to the land which is theirs. 18 Certainly Ephraim's words of grief have come to my ears, You have given me training and I have undergone it like a young cow unused to the yoke: let me be turned and come back, for you are the Lord my God. 19 Truly, after I had been turned, I had regret for my ways; and after I had got knowledge, I made signs of sorrow: I was put to shame, truly, I was covered with shame, because I had to undergo the shame of my early years. 20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he the child of my delight? for whenever I say things against him, I still keep him in my memory: so my heart is troubled for him; I will certainly have mercy on him, says the Lord.
  • Jer 50:4-5 : 4 In 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. 5 They will be questioning about the way to Zion, with their faces turned in its direction, saying, Come, and be united to the Lord in an eternal agreement which will be kept in mind for ever.
  • Dan 9:3-9 : 3 And turning my face to the Lord God, I gave myself up to prayer, requesting his grace, going without food, in haircloth and dust. 4 And I made prayer to the Lord my God, putting our sins before him, and said, O Lord, the great God, greatly to be feared. keeping your agreement and mercy with those who have love for you and do your orders; 5 We are sinners, acting wrongly and doing evil; we have gone against you, turning away from your orders and from your laws: 6 We have not given ear to your servants the prophets, who said words in your name to our kings and our rulers and our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness is yours, but shame is on us, even to this day; and on the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and on all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off, in all the countries where you have sent them because of the sin which they have done against you. 8 O Lord, shame is on us, on our kings and our rulers and our fathers, because of our sin against you. 9 With the Lord our God are mercies and forgiveness, for we have gone against him; 10 And have not given ear to the voice of the Lord our God to go in the way of his laws which he put before us by the mouth of his servants the prophets. 11 And all Israel have been sinners against your law, turning away so as not to give ear to your voice: and the curse has been let loose on us, and the oath recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have done evil against him. 12 And he has given effect to his words which he said against us and against those who were our judges, by sending a great evil on us: for under all heaven there has not been done what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 As it was recorded in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us: but we have made no prayer for grace from the Lord our God that we might be turned from our evil doings and come to true wisdom. 14 So the Lord has been watching over this evil and has made it come on us: for the Lord our God is upright in all his acts which he has done, and we have not given ear to his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who took your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made a great name for yourself even to this day; we are sinners, we have done evil. 16 O Lord, because of your righteousness, let your wrath and your passion be turned away from your town Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because, through our sins and the evil-doing of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a cause of shame to all who are round about us. 17 And now, give ear, O our God, to the prayer of your servant and to his request for grace, and let your face be shining on your holy place which is made waste, because of your servants, O Lord. 18 O my God, let your ear be turned and give hearing; let your eyes be open and see how we have been made waste and the town which is named by your name: for we are not offering our prayers before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercies. 19 O Lord, give ear; O Lord, have forgiveness; O Lord, take note and do; let there be no more waiting; for the honour of your name, O my God, because your town and your people are named by your name.
  • Dan 10:2-3 : 2 In those days I, Daniel, gave myself up to grief for three full weeks. 3 I had no pleasing food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, and I put no oil on my body till three full weeks were ended.
  • Dan 10:19 : 19 Then he said, It is clear to you why I have come to you. And now I will give you an account of what is recorded in the true writings:
  • Zech 12:10-14 : 10 And 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. 11 In that day there will be a great weeping in Jerusalem, like the weeping of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 And the land will give itself to weeping, every family separately; the family of David by themselves, and their wives by themselves; the family of Nathan by themselves, and their wives by themselves; 13 The family of Levi by themselves, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by themselves, and their wives by themselves; 14 And all the other families by themselves, and their wives by themselves.
  • Luke 6:21 : 21 Happy are you who are in need of food now: for you will be made full. Happy are you who are weeping now; for you will be glad.
  • Luke 6:25 : 25 Unhappy are you who are full of food now: for you will be in need. Unhappy are you who are laughing now: for you will be crying in sorrow.
  • John 16:20-22 : 20 Truly I say to you, You will be weeping and sorrowing, but the world will be glad: you will be sad, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 When a woman is about to give birth she has sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she has given birth to the child, the pain is put out of her mind by the joy that a man has come into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now: but I will see you again, and your hearts will be glad, and no one will take away your joy.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eccl 7:1-2
    2 verses
    85%

    1A good name is better than oil of great price, and the day of death than the day of birth.

    2It is better to go to the house of weeping, than to go to the house of feasting; because that is the end of every man, and the living will take it to their hearts.

  • Prov 15:13
    84%

    13A glad heart makes a shining face, but by the sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

  • Prov 14:13
    84%

    13Even while laughing the heart may be sad; and after joy comes sorrow.

  • Eccl 7:4-10
    7 verses
    84%

    4The hearts of the wise are in the house of weeping; but the hearts of the foolish are in the house of joy.

    5It is better to take note of the protest of the wise, than for a man to give ear to the song of the foolish.

    6Like the cracking of thorns under a pot, so is the laugh of a foolish man; and this again is to no purpose.

    7The wise are troubled by the ways of the cruel, and the giving of money is the destruction of the heart.

    8The end of a thing is better than its start, and a gentle spirit is better than pride.

    9Be not quick to let your spirit be angry; because wrath is in the heart of the foolish.

    10Say not, Why were the days which have gone by better than these? Such a question comes not from wisdom.

  • Prov 17:22
    77%

    22A glad heart makes a healthy body, but a crushed spirit makes the bones dry.

  • Jas 4:9
    77%

    9Be troubled, with sorrow and weeping; let your laughing be turned to sorrow and your joy to grief.

  • Prov 12:25
    76%

    25Care in the heart of a man makes it weighted down, but a good word makes it glad.

  • Prov 15:15-16
    2 verses
    75%

    15All the days of the troubled are evil; but he whose heart is glad has an unending feast.

    16Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great wealth together with trouble.

  • Eccl 3:4
    74%

    4A time for weeping and a time for laughing; a time for sorrow and a time for dancing;

  • Eccl 7:14
    74%

    14In the day of wealth have joy, but in the day of evil take thought: God has put the one against the other, so that man may not be certain what will be after him.

  • Eccl 2:1-2
    2 verses
    73%

    1I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.

    2Of laughing I said, It is foolish; and of joy--What use is it?

  • Eccl 1:17-18
    2 verses
    73%

    17And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.

    18Because in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.

  • Eccl 11:7-10
    4 verses
    73%

    7Truly the light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun.

    8But even if a man's life is long and he has joy in all his years, let him keep in mind the dark days, because they will be great in number. Whatever may come is to no purpose.

    9Have joy, O young man, while you are young; and let your heart be glad in the days of your strength, and go in the ways of your heart, and in the desire of your eyes; but be certain that for all these things God will be your judge.

    10So put away trouble from your heart, and sorrow from your flesh; because the early years and the best years are to no purpose.

  • 2 Cor 7:9-10
    2 verses
    72%

    9Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything.

    10For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death.

  • Eccl 8:15
    71%

    15So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

  • Eccl 3:12
    71%

    12I am certain that there is nothing better for a man than to be glad, and to do good while life is in him.

  • Eccl 4:3
    71%

    3Yes, happier than the dead or the living seemed he who has not ever been, who has not seen the evil which is done under the sun.

  • Lam 5:15
    71%

    15The joy of our hearts is ended; our dancing is changed into sorrow.

  • Job 3:20
    71%

    20Why does he give light to him who is in trouble, and life to the bitter in soul;

  • Prov 25:20
    70%

    20Like one who takes off clothing in cold weather and like acid on a wound, is he who makes melody to a sad heart.

  • Eccl 6:9
    70%

    9What the eyes see is better than the wandering of desire. This is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

  • Prov 15:30
    70%

    30The light of the eyes is a joy to the heart, and good news makes the bones fat.

  • Eccl 3:22
    70%

    22So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work--because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?

  • Jer 8:18
    70%

    18Sorrow has come on me! my heart in me is feeble.

  • Prov 3:13
    70%

    13Happy is the man who makes discovery of wisdom, and he who gets knowledge.

  • Matt 5:4
    69%

    4Happy are those who are sad: for they will be comforted.

  • Isa 24:7
    69%

    7The new wine is thin, the vine is feeble, and all the glad-hearted make sounds of grief.

  • Eccl 9:3
    69%

    3This is evil in all things which are done under the sun: that there is one fate for all, and the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; while they have life their hearts are foolish, and after that--to the dead.

  • Eccl 2:23
    69%

    23All his days are sorrow, and his work is full of grief. Even in the night his heart has no rest. This again is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 9:7
    69%

    7Come, take your bread with joy, and your wine with a glad heart. God has taken pleasure in your works.

  • Prov 14:10
    69%

    10No one has knowledge of a man's grief but himself; and a strange person has no part in his joy.

  • Eccl 5:17
    69%

    17This is what I have seen: it is good and fair for a man to take meat and drink and to have joy in all his work under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; that is his reward.

  • Eccl 7:25
    69%

    25I gave my mind to knowledge and to searching for wisdom and the reason of things, and to the discovery that sin is foolish, and that to be foolish is to be without one's senses.

  • Prov 19:3
    69%

    3By his foolish behaviour a man's ways are turned upside down, and his heart is bitter against the Lord.

  • Job 3:22
    68%

    22Who are glad with great joy, and full of delight when they come to their last resting-place;