Ecclesiastes 7:2

People Generally Do Not Know What Is Best For Them

¹ A good name is better than precious perfume,
And the day of one’s death better than the day of one’s birth.
² 
It is better to go to the house of mourning
Than to go to the house of feasting,
For that [day of death] is the end of every man,
And the living will take it to heart and solemnly ponder its meaning.
³
Sorrow is better than laughter,
For when a face is sad (deep in thought) the heart may be happy [because it is growing in wisdom].

Take It to Heart

Psalm 90:12

So teach us to number our days,
That we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom.

Genesis 48:1-22

Now some time after these things happened, Joseph was told, “Your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him [to go to Goshen].

Genesis 49:2-33

“Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob;
And listen to Israel (Jacob) your father.

Genesis 50:15-17

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph carries a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him?”

Numbers 23:10

“Who can count the dust (the descendants) of Jacob
And the number of even the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous [those who are upright and in right standing with God],
And let my end be like his!”

Deuteronomy 32:29

“O that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they could discern their future and ultimate fate!

Deuteronomy 32:46

he said to them, “Take to heart all the words of warning which I am speaking to you today; and you shall command your children to observe them carefully—to do all the words of this law.

Job 1:4-5

His sons used to go [in turn] and feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send word and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Isaiah 5:11-12

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who rise early in the morning to pursue intoxicating drink,
Who stay up late in the night till wine inflames them!

Isaiah 22:12-14

Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to mourning,
To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth [in humiliation].

Isaiah 47:7

“And you said, ‘I shall be a queen forevermore.’
You did not consider these things,
Nor did you [seriously] remember the [ultimate] outcome of such conduct.

Amos 6:3-6

Do you put off the day of punishment,
Yet cause the seat of violence to come near?

Haggai 1:5

Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways and thoughtfully reflect on your conduct!

Malachi 2:2

If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings [on the people]. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.

Matthew 5:4

“Blessed [forgiven, refreshed by God’s grace] are those who mourn [over their sins and repent], for they will be comforted [when the burden of sin is lifted].

Matthew 14:6-12

But when Herod’s birthday came, [his niece Salome], the daughter of Herodias danced [immodestly] before them and pleased and fascinated Herod,

Romans 6:21-22

So what benefit did you get at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? [None!] For the outcome of those things is death!

Philippians 3:19

whose fate is destruction, whose god is their belly [their worldly appetite, their sensuality, their vanity], and whose glory is in their shame—who focus their mind on earthly and temporal things.

Hebrews 9:27

And just as it is appointed and destined for all men to die once and after this [comes certain] judgment,

1 Peter 4:3-4

For the time already past is [more than] enough for doing what the [unsaved] Gentiles like to do—living [unrestrained as you have done] in a course of [shameless] sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries.