Ecclesiastes 7:2

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.

Job 30:23

30:23 I know that you are bringing ⁸  me to death,

to the meeting place for all the living.

Hebrews 9:27

9:27 And just as people ⁹  are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, ¹⁰ 

[7:2]  ¹ tn Heb “house of mourning.” The phrase refers to a funeral where the deceased is mourned.

[7:2]  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.

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (“death”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  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.

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “all men” or “every man.”

[7:2]  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).

[7:2]  ⁷ tn The word “this” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[30:23]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verb would be a progressive imperfect, it is future, but it is also already underway.

[9:27]  ⁹ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[9:27]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and after this – judgment.”