Ecclesiastes 7:4

Bible in Basic English (1941)

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

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֵב חֲכָמִים בְּבֵית אֵבֶל וְלֵב כְּסִילִים בְּבֵית שִׂמְחָה

Transliteration

Lēḇ ḥăḵāmîm in-bêṯ ʾēḇel wə-lēḇ kəsîlîm in-bêṯ śimḥāh

Grammar Details

• *Lēḇ*: noun, masculine singular construct - heart of
• *ḥăḵāmîm*: adjective, masculine plural - wise ones
• *bêṯ*: noun, masculine singular construct - house of
• *ʾēḇel*: noun, masculine singular - mourning
• *wə-lēḇ*: conjunction + noun, masculine singular construct - and heart of
• *kəsîlîm*: adjective, masculine plural - fools
• *śimḥāh*: noun, feminine singular - joy/gladness

Word Meanings

• *Lēḇ*: heart/mind/inner person
• *ḥăḵāmîm*: wise ones/sages/those with wisdom
• *bêṯ* *ʾēḇel*: house of mourning/place of grief
• *kəsîlîm*: fools/those lacking wisdom or moral sense
• *bêṯ* *śimḥāh*: house of mirth/place of pleasure

Referenced Verses

• 1 Sam 25:36 : 36 And Abigail went back to Nabal; and he was feasting in his house like a king; and Nabal's heart was full of joy, for he had taken much wine; so she said nothing to him till dawn came.
• 1 Sam 30:16 : 16 And when he had taken him down, they saw them all, seated about on all sides, feasting and drinking among all the mass of goods which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah.
• 2 Sam 13:28 : 28 Now Absalom had given orders to his servants, saying, Now take note when Amnon's heart is glad with wine; and when I say to you, Make an attack on Amnon, then put him to death without fear: have I not given you orders? be strong and without fear.
• 1 Kgs 20:16 : 16 And in the middle of the day they went out. But Ben-hadad was drinking in the tents with the thirty-two kings who were helping him.
• Neh 2:2-5 : 2 And the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing that you are not ill? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was full of fear; 3 And said to the king, May the king be living for ever: is it not natural for my face to be sad, when the town, the place where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, has been made waste and its doorways burned with fire? 4 Then the king said to me, What is your desire? So I made prayer to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, If it is the king's pleasure, and if your servant has your approval, send me to Judah, to the town where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, so that I may take in hand the building of it.
• Isa 21:4 : 4 My mind is wandering, fear has overcome me: the evening of my desire has been turned into shaking for me.
• Isa 53:3-4 : 3 Men made sport of him, turning away from him; he was a man of sorrows, marked by disease; and like one from whom men's faces are turned away, he was looked down on, and we put no value on him. 4 But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come.
• Jer 51:39 : 39 When they are heated, I will make a feast for them, and overcome them with wine, so that they may become unconscious, sleeping an eternal sleep without awaking, says the Lord.
• Jer 51:57 : 57 And I will make her chiefs and her wise men, her rulers and her captains and her men of war, overcome with wine; their sleep will be an eternal sleep without awaking, says the King; the Lord of armies is his name.
• Dan 5:1-4 : 1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, drinking wine before the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, while he was overcome with wine, gave orders for them to put before him the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem; so that the king and his lords, his wives and his other women, might take their drink from them. 3 Then they took in the gold and silver vessels which had been in the Temple of the house of God at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his other women, took wine from them. 4 They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone.
• Dan 5:30 : 30 That very night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldaeans, was put to death.
• Hos 7:5 : 5 On the day of our king, the rulers made him ill with the heat of wine; his hand was stretched out with the men of pride.
• Nah 1:10 : 10 For though they are like twisted thorns, and are overcome as with drink, they will come to destruction like stems of grass fully dry.
• Matt 8:14-16 : 14 And when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother in bed, very ill. 15 And he put his hand on hers and the disease went from her, and she got up and took care of his needs. 16 And in the evening, they took to him a number of people who had evil spirits; and he sent the spirits out of them with a word, and made well all who were ill;
• Mark 5:38-43 : 38 And they came to the house of the ruler of the Synagogue; and he saw people running this way and that, and weeping and crying loudly. 39 And when he had gone in, he said to them, Why are you making such a noise and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping. 40 And they were laughing at him. But he, having sent them all out, took the father of the child and her mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 And taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha cumi, which is, My child, I say to you, Get up. 42 And the young girl got up straight away, and was walking about; she being twelve years old. And they were overcome with wonder. 43 And he gave them special orders that they were not to say anything of this; and he said that some food was to be given to her.
• Mark 6:21-29 : 21 And the chance came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee; 22 And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and did a dance, Herod and those who were at table with him were pleased with her; and the king said to the girl, Make a request for anything and I will give it you. 23 And he took an oath, saying to her, Whatever is your desire I will give it to you, even half of my kingdom. 24 And she went out and said to her mother, What is my request to be? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. 25 And she came in quickly to the king, and said, My desire is that you give me straight away on a plate the head of John the Baptist. 26 And the king was very sad; but because of his oaths, and those who were with him at table, he would not say 'No' to her. 27 And straight away the king sent out one of his armed men, and gave him an order to come back with the head: and he went and took off John's head in prison, 28 And came back with the head on a plate, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 And when his disciples had news of it, they came and took up his body, and put it in its last resting-place.
• Luke 7:12-13 : 12 Now when he came near the door of the town, a dead man was being taken out, the only son of his mother, who was a widow: and a great number of people from the town were with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had pity on her and said to her, Be not sad.
• John 11:31-35 : 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, comforting her, when they saw Mary get up quickly and go out, went after her in the belief that she was going to the place of the dead and would be weeping there. 32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she went down at his feet, saying, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not be dead. 33 And when Jesus saw her weeping, and saw the Jews weeping who came with her, his spirit was moved and he was troubled, 34 And said, Where have you put him? They said, Come and see, Lord. 35 And Jesus himself was weeping.