7:4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of merrymaking. 1
7:2 It is better to go to a funeral 2
than a feast. 3
For death 4 is the destiny 5 of every person, 6
and the living should 7 take this 8 to heart.
1 sn The expression the house of merrymaking refers to a banquet where those who attend engage in self-indulgent feasting and riotous drinking.
2 tn Heb “house of mourning.” The phrase refers to a funeral where the deceased is mourned.
3 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.
4 tn Heb “it”; the referent (“death”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 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.
6 tn Heb “all men” or “every man.”
7 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).
8 tn The word “this” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.