Ecclesiastes 7:4

Authorized King James Version (1611)

The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools [is] in the house of mirth.

📖 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 came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart [was] merry within him, for he [was] very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
• 1 Sam 30:16 : 16 And when he had brought him down, behold, [they were] spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
• 2 Sam 13:28 : 28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
• 1 Kgs 20:16 : 16 And they went out at noon. But Benhadad [was] drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
• Neh 2:2-5 : 2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why [is] thy countenance sad, seeing thou [art] not sick? this [is] nothing [else] but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, 3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, [lieth] waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? 4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.
• Isa 21:4 : 4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
• Isa 53:3-4 : 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
• Jer 51:39 : 39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.
• Jer 51:57 : 57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise [men], her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name [is] the LORD of hosts.
• Dan 5:1-4 : 1 ¶ Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which [was] in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. 3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which [was] at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
• Dan 5:30 : 30 ¶ In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
• Hos 7:5 : 5 In the day of our king the princes have made [him] sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
• Nah 1:10 : 10 For while [they be] folden together [as] thorns, and while they are drunken [as] drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
• Matt 8:14-16 : 14 ¶ And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. 16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with [his] word, and healed all that were sick:
• Mark 5:38-43 : 38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. 39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, ‹Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.› 40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. 41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, ‹Talitha cumi;› which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. 42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was [of the age] of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. 43 And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.
• Mark 6:21-29 : 21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief [estates] of Galilee; 22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give [it] thee. 23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give [it] thee, unto the half of my kingdom. 24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. 25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. 26 And the king was exceeding sorry; [yet] for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, 28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. 29 And when his disciples heard [of it], they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
• Luke 7:12-13 : 12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, ‹Weep not.›
• John 11:31-35 : 31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. 32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33 ¶ When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34 And said, ‹Where have ye laid him?› They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35 Jesus wept.