Ecclesiastes 7:2

It is better to go to a funeral ¹  than a feast. ²  For death ³  is the destiny ⁴  of every person, ⁵  and the living should ⁶  take this ⁷  to heart.

It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.

It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart.

It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time.

You learn more at a funeral than at a feast--After all, that's where we'll end up. We might discover something from it.

It 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.

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for this is the end of everyone, and the living will lay it to heart.

Better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; And the living will take it to heart.

It is better to go to a funeral ¹  than a feast. ²  For death ³  is the destiny ⁴  of every person, ⁵  and the living should ⁶  take this ⁷  to heart.

¹ tn Heb “house of mourning.” The phrase refers to a funeral where the deceased is mourned.

² tn Heb “house of drinking”; or “house of feasting.” The Hebrew noun מִשְׁתֶּה (mishteh) can denote (1) “feast; banquet,” occasion for drinking-bouts (1 Sam 25:36; Isa 5:12; Jer 51:39; Job 1:5; Esth 2:18; 5:14; 8:17; 9:19) or (2) “drink” (exilic/postexilic – Ezra 3:7; Dan 1:5, 8, 16); see HALOT 653 s.v. מִשְׁתֶּה 4; BDB 1059 s.v. שָׁתַה.

sn Qoheleth recommended that people soberly reflect on the brevity of life and the reality of death (It is better to go to a house of mourning) than to waste one’s life in the foolish pursuit of pleasure (than to go to a house of banqueting). Sober reflection on the brevity of life and reality of death has more moral benefit than frivolous levity.

³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (“death”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “the end.” The noun סוֹף (sof) literally means “end; conclusion” (HALOT 747 s.v. סוֹף 1; BDB 693 s.v. סוֹף). It is used in this context in reference to death, as the preceding phrase “house of mourning” (i.e., funeral) suggests.

⁵ tn Heb “all men” or “every man.”

⁶ tn The imperfect tense verb יִתֵּן, yitten (from נָתָן, natan, “to give”) functions in a modal sense, denoting obligation, that is, the subject’s obligatory or necessary conduct: “should” or “ought to” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 31-32, §172; IBHS 508-9 §31.4g).

⁷ tn The word “this” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.