Ecclesiastes 7:2

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

טוֹב לָלֶכֶת אֶל־בֵּית־אֵבֶל מִלֶּכֶת אֶל־בֵּית מִשְׁתֶּה בַּאֲשֶׁר הוּא סוֹף כָּל־הָאָדָם וְהַחַי יִתֵּן אֶל־לִבּוֹ

Transliteration

Ṭôḇ lāleḵeṯ to-bêṯ-ʾēḇel from-lekeṯ to-bêṯ mišteh in-which he sôp̄ all-the-ʾāḏām wə-haḥay yittēn to-libbô

Grammar Details

• *Ṭôḇ*: adjective, masculine singular - good/better
• *lāleḵeṯ*: Qal infinitive construct with preposition - to go
• *bêṯ*-*ʾēḇel*: construct chain - house of mourning
• *lekeṯ*: Qal infinitive construct - going
• *bêṯ* *mišteh*: noun + noun - house of feasting
• *sôp̄*: noun, masculine singular - end
• *ʾāḏām*: noun, masculine singular with definite article - the man/mankind
• *wə-haḥay*: conjunction + article + adjective/participle - and the living
• *yittēn*: Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - he will give/set
• *libbô*: noun, masculine singular with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his heart

Word Meanings

• *Ṭôḇ*: good/better/more beneficial
• *bêṯ*-*ʾēḇel*: house of mourning/place of grief
• *bêṯ* *mišteh*: house of feasting/place of banquet
• *sôp̄*: end/conclusion/destiny
• *ʾāḏām*: mankind/humanity/every person
• *haḥay*: the living one/one who is alive
• *yittēn* *ʾel-libbô*: will take to heart/will consider deeply/will reflect

Referenced Verses

• Ps 90:12 : 12 So teach us to consider our mortality, so that we might live wisely.
• Isa 5:11-12 : 11 Beware, those who get up early to drink beer, those who keep drinking long after dark until they are intoxicated with wine. 12 They have stringed instruments, tambourines, flutes, and wine at their parties. So they do not recognize what the LORD is doing, they do not perceive what he is bringing about.
• Isa 22:12-14 : 12 At that time the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies, called for weeping and mourning, for shaved heads and sackcloth. 13 But look, there is outright celebration! You say,“Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep, eat meat and drink wine. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 14 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies told me this:“Certainly this sin will not be forgiven as long as you live,” says the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
• Isa 47:7 : 7 You said,‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ You did not think about these things; you did not consider how it would turn out.
• Amos 6:3-6 : 3 You refuse to believe a day of disaster will come, but you establish a reign of violence. 4 They lie around on beds decorated with ivory, and sprawl out on their couches. They eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the middle of the pen. 5 They sing to the tune of stringed instruments; like David they invent musical instruments. 6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, and pour the very best oils on themselves. Yet they are not concerned over the ruin of Joseph.
• Hag 1:5 : 5 Here then, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has said:‘Think carefully about what you are doing.
• Mal 2:2 : 2 If you do not listen and take seriously the need to honor my name,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,“I will send judgment on you and turn your blessings into curses– indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.
• Matt 5:4 : 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• Matt 14:6-9 : 6 But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, 7 so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Instructed by her mother, she said,“Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 Although it grieved the king, because of his oath and the dinner guests he commanded it to be given. 10 So he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 Then John’s disciples came and took the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.
• Rom 6:21-22 : 21 So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.
• Phil 3:19 : 19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things.
• Heb 9:27 : 27 And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment,
• 1 Pet 4:3-4 : 3 For the time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the non-Christians desire. You lived then in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking bouts, and wanton idolatries. 4 So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you.
• Gen 48:1-9 : 1 Manasseh and Ephraim After these things Joseph was told,“Your father is weakening.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. 2 When Jacob was told,“Your son Joseph has just come to you,” Israel regained strength and sat up on his bed. 3 Jacob said to Joseph,“The Sovereign God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 4 He said to me,‘I am going to make you fruitful and will multiply you. I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants as an everlasting possession.’ 5 “Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 Any children that you father after them will be yours; they will be listed under the names of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died– to my sorrow– in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath”(that is, Bethlehem). 8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he asked,“Who are these?” 9 Joseph said to his father,“They are the sons God has given me in this place.” His father said,“Bring them to me so I may bless them.” 10 Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of his age; he was not able to see well. So Joseph brought his sons near to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. 11 Israel said to Joseph,“I never expected to see you again, but now God has allowed me to see your children too.” 12 So Joseph moved them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 Joseph positioned them; he put Ephraim on his right hand across from Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh on his left hand across from Israel’s right hand. Then Joseph brought them closer to his father. 14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger. Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,“May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked– the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, 16 the Angel who has protected me from all harm– bless these boys. May my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. May they grow into a multitude on the earth.” 17 When Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him. So he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to his father,“Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father refused and said,“I know, my son, I know. He too will become a nation and he too will become great. In spite of this, his younger brother will be even greater and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.” 20 So he blessed them that day, saying,“By you will Israel bless, saying,‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph,“I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 As one who is above your brothers, I give to you the mountain slope, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”
• Gen 49:2-9 : 2 “Assemble and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father. 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, outstanding in dignity, outstanding in power. 4 You are destructive like water and will not excel, for you got on your father’s bed, then you defiled it– he got on my couch! 5 Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their knives! 6 O my soul, do not come into their council, do not be united to their assembly, my heart, for in their anger they have killed men, and for pleasure they have hamstrung oxen. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their fury, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel! 8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s sons will bow down before you. 9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah, from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches and lies down like a lion; like a lioness– who will rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him. 11 Binding his foal to the vine, and his colt to the choicest vine, he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be red from wine, and his teeth white from milk. 13 Zebulun will live by the haven of the sea and become a haven for ships; his border will extend to Sidon. 14 Issachar is a strong-boned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. 15 When he sees a good resting place, and the pleasant land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and become a slave laborer. 16 Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 May Dan be a snake beside the road, a viper by the path, that bites the heels of the horse so that its rider falls backward. 18 I wait for your deliverance, O LORD. 19 Gad will be raided by marauding bands, but he will attack them at their heels. 20 Asher’s food will be rich, and he will provide delicacies to royalty. 21 Naphtali is a free running doe, he speaks delightful words. 22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough near a spring whose branches climb over the wall. 23 The archers will attack him, they will shoot at him and oppose him. 24 But his bow will remain steady, and his hands will be skillful; because of the hands of the Powerful One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25 because of the God of your father, who will help you, because of the Sovereign God, who will bless you with blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and womb. 26 The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the eternal mountains or the desirable things of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of the prince of his brothers. 27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning devouring the prey, and in the evening dividing the plunder.” 28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing. 29 Then he instructed them,“I am about to go to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 30 It is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought for a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite. 31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were acquired from the sons of Heth.” 33 When Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet up onto the bed, breathed his last breath, and went to his people.
• Gen 50:15-17 : 15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said,“What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay us in full for all the harm we did to him?” 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying,“Your father gave these instructions before he died: 17 ‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.
• Num 23:10 : 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let the end of my life be like theirs.”
• Deut 32:29 : 29 I wish that they were wise and could understand this, and that they could comprehend what will happen to them.”
• Deut 32:46 : 46 he said to them,“Keep in mind all the words I am solemnly proclaiming to you today; you must command your children to observe carefully all the words of this law.
• Job 1:4-5 : 4 Now his sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one in turn, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5 When the days of their feasting were finished, Job would send for them and sanctify them; he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job thought,“Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s customary practice.