From the Blue Letter Bible

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Ecc 7:3 — Sorrow [is] better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

Phrase of Scripture		Correlating Passages

Sorrow		or, Anger
is better		Psa 119:67,71; Psa 126:5,6; Jer 31:8,9,15-20; Jer 50:4,5; Dan 9:3-19; Dan 10:2,3,19; Zec 12:10-14; Luk 6:21,25; Jhn 16:20-22; 2Cr 7:9-11; Jam 4:8-10
by		Rom 5:3,4; 2Cr 4:17; Hbr 12:10,11; Jam 1:2-4

Correlating Passages

is better

	Psa 119:67	Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
	Psa 119:71	[It is] good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
	Psa 126:5	They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
	Psa 126:6	He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves [with him].
	Jer 31:8	Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, [and] with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.
	Jer 31:9	They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim [is] my firstborn.
	Jer 31:15	Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they [were] not.
	Jer 31:16	Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
	Jer 31:17	And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
	Jer 31:18	I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus]; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou [art] the LORD my God.
	Jer 31:19	Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon [my] thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
	Jer 31:20	[Is] Ephraim my dear son? [is he] a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
	Jer 50:4	In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
	Jer 50:5	They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, [saying], Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant [that] shall not be forgotten.
	Dan 9:3	And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
	Dan 9:4	And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
	Dan 9:5	We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
	Dan 9:6	Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
	Dan 9:7	O Lord, righteousness [belongeth] unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, [that are] near, and [that are] far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
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	Dan 10:2	In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
	Dan 10:3	I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
	Dan 10:19	And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace [be] unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.
	Zec 12:10	And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.
	Zec 12:11	In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
	Zec 12:12	And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
	Zec 12:13	The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
	Zec 12:14	All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
	Luk 6:21	Blessed [are ye] that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed [are ye] that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
	Luk 6:25	Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
	Jhn 16:20	Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
	Jhn 16:21	A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
	Jhn 16:22	And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
	2Cr 7:9	Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
	2Cr 7:10	For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
	2Cr 7:11	For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, [what] clearing of yourselves, yea, [what] indignation, yea, [what] fear, yea, [what] vehement desire, yea, [what] zeal, yea, [what] revenge! In all [things] ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
	Jam 4:8	Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.
	Jam 4:9	Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness.
	Jam 4:10	Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

	Rom 5:3	And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
	Rom 5:4	And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
	2Cr 4:17	For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory;
	Hbr 12:10	For they verily for a few days chastened [us] after their own pleasure; but he for [our] profit, that [we] might be partakers of his holiness.
	Hbr 12:11	Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
	Jam 1:2	My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
	Jam 1:3	Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
	Jam 1:4	But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

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Cite This Page: (explanation of citations)

Scott, Thomas. "Ecclesiastes 7:3," The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Blue Letter Bible. 1836. 9 Jul 2004. .
<http://www.blueletterbible.org/tsk_b/Ecc/7/3.html>.

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