Bible verse

Ecclesiastes 7:3

Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

Ecclesiastes 7:3 · BSB

Ecclesiastes 7:3 in context

The verses around it, from Ecclesiastes 7.

1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and one’s day of death is better than his day of birth.

2 It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.

3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

5 It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.

6 For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.

7 Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 7

Ecclesiastes 7:3 in other translations

KJV

Sorrow [is] better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

ASV

Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad.

ERV

Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad.

Newsletter

Scripture in your inbox

A short reading and some honest encouragement, most weekday mornings — no noise, no selling, unsubscribe in one click.

← Ecclesiastes 7:2 All of Ecclesiastes 7 Ecclesiastes 7:4 →

Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is free of copyright restrictions for use on websites. Read the full Bible on Great Faith.