Ecclesiastes 7:3

Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad face can make the heart better. It matters because grief and hardship can refine the soul in ways pleasure cannot.

Cross-references · 19

• 2 Cor 7:9–11Now 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.
• Rom 5:3–4And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
• Jas 4:8–10Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
• John 16:20–22Verily, 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.
• Jas 1:2–4My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
• 2 Cor 4:17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
• Jer 31:15–20Thus 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.
• Heb 12:10–11For 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.
• Luke 6:25Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
• Dan 10:19And 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.
• Ps 119:71It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
• Ps 119:67Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
• Zech 12:10–14And 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.
• Luke 6:21Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
• Jer 31:8–9Behold, 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.
• Dan 10:2–3In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
• Jer 50:4–5In 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.
• Dan 9:3–19And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
• Ps 126:5–6They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

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