40 Bible Verses about Lamenting
Most Relevant Verses
The king sang a lament for Abner and said, "Should Abner have died the death of a fool? Your hands [were] not tied and your feet [were] not in contact with bronze fetters. You have fallen as one who falls before sons of wickedness." Then {all the people wept over him again}.
When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which [was] beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful wailing. And he made a mourning ceremony for his father seven days.
Thus says Yahweh, "A voice [is] heard in Ramah, lamentation, [the] weeping of bitterness. Rachel [is] weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted because of her children, for they are no [more]."
Then Herod, [when he] saw that he had been deceived by the wise men, became very angry, and he sent [soldiers] [and] executed all the children in Bethlehem and in all the region [around] it from [the age of] two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined precisely from the wise men. Then what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, saying, "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping [for] her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because {they exist no longer}."
And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and saw a commotion, and [people] weeping and wailing loudly.
And they were all weeping and mourning for her, but he said, "Do not weep! For she is not dead, but is sleeping."
And a great crowd of the people were following him, and of women who were mourning and lamenting him.
So the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, [when they] saw Mary--that she stood up quickly and went out--followed her, [because they] thought that she was going to the tomb in order to weep there. Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was [and] saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Then Jesus, when he saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled within himself.
O Yahweh, hear my prayer, and let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me in [the] day [of] my trouble. Incline your ear to me. In the day I call, answer me quickly,
And Jeremiah uttered a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers have spoken in their laments about Josiah to this day. And they made them a requirement in Israel, and behold, they are written in the laments.
Then David sang this funeral song over Saul and over Jonathan his son. And he ordered "The Bow" to be taught to the children of Judah. Look, it [is] written on the scroll of Jashar. "The glory of Israel [is] on your high places; how [the] mighty have fallen!read more.
Do not tell it in Gath; do not proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of [the] Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. O mountains of Gilboa, [let there be] no dew or rain upon you or on the fields of [grain for] offerings, for there the small shield of [the] mighty [was] defiled, the small shield of Saul [was] not anointed with oil. From the blood of [the] slain, from the fat of [the] mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, and the sword of Saul did not return {without effect}. Saul and Jonathan [were] beloved and pleasant in their lives and [were] not separated in their death. They [were] swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, the one who clothed you with crimson, the one who {adorned your clothing with golden ornaments}. How [the] mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle; Jonathan [lies] slain on your high places. {I am distressed} over you, my brother Jonathan. you [were] very dear to me; your love [was] more wonderful to me than the love of women. How [the] mighty have fallen and the weapons of warfare perished."
Hear this word that I [am] going to intone over you [as] a lament, O house of Israel! Virgin Israel has fallen and will not rise again. She is deserted on her land; there is no one to raise her up.
How desolate the city sits [that] was full of people! She has become like a widow, [once] great among the nations! Like a woman of nobility in the provinces, she has become a forced laborer.
And this shall happen: There will be a stench instead of perfume, and a rope instead of a sash, and baldness instead of a well-set hairdo, and a clothing wrap of sackcloth instead of a rich robe, branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall be banished; she shall sit upon the ground.
Ah! Ariel, Ariel, [the] city [where] David encamped! Add year to year, let festivals recur. Yet I will inflict Ariel, and there shall be mourning and lamentation, and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.
A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror, your cities will go to ruin {without} inhabitant. Because of this gird yourselves [with] sackcloth, lament and wail, for {the burning anger} of Yahweh has not turned back from us.
Shear your hair and throw [it] away, and lift up a lament on the barren heights, for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'
For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, and for [the] pastures of [the] desert a lament, because they are laid waste so that no man passes through. And [the] sounds of cattle are not heard, from [the] birds of heaven to [the] animals they have fled, they are gone.
The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses; he has ruined all its fortifications and multiplied lamentation and mourning in the daughter of Judah.
And I looked, and look! There was a hand stretched out to me, and look! In it [was] {a scroll with writing}. And he rolled it out {before me}, and it [was] written [on the] front and back, and there [were] written on it laments and mourning and wailing.
Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer [for] the vine of Sibmah. I drench you [with] my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest. And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful land, and in the vineyards no one exults, no one shouts for joy; no treader treads wine in the presses; I have put to an end to [the] jubilant shout. Therefore my {heart moans} like harp for Moab and my inner parts for Kir-heres.
My heart cries out for Moab; its fugitives [flee] up to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For [at] the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping; for [on] the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.
Therefore Moab wails; all of it wails for Moab, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, {utterly devastated}.
And the fishers will mourn, and all of those who cast fishhooks in the Nile will lament, and those who spread out fishing nets on [the] {surface} of [the] water will languish.
{Therefore} my heart moans for Moab like the flute. It moans for the people of Kir-heres like the flute. {Therefore} [the] wealth they gained has perished.
And they will raise a lament over you, and they will say to you, 'How you have been lost [who was] inhabited from [the] seas; the city that was praised, that was strong. It [is] [located] on the sea, and its inhabitants imposed their terror {on all of its inhabitants}. Now the coastlands will tremble [at] the day of your downfall, and the islands that [are] in the sea will be horrified because of your departure.'"
"Son of man, prophesy, and you must say, 'thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Wail, alas! For the day! For a day [is] near; indeed, a day [is] near for Yahweh. A day of cloud, a time of [the] nations it will be. And a sword will come in Egypt, and anguish will be in Cush, at the falling of [the] slain in Egypt. And they will take its wealth, and its foundation will be demolished.
Her foes have become [her] {master}, her enemies are at ease; Yahweh has made her suffer because of the greatness of her transgressions. Her children have gone away, captive before the foe.
Why should any living person complain about his sin? Let us test and examine our ways; let us return to Yahweh.
for the daughters of Israel to go and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for forty days of the year.
Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry;
"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping [for] her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because {they exist no longer}."
Because of this gird yourselves [with] sackcloth, lament and wail, for {the burning anger} of Yahweh has not turned back from us.
O daughter of my people, gird yourself [with] sackcloth, and roll about in the ashes in mourning, a mourning ceremony [as for] an only child. Make for yourself wailing of bitterness, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
Hear this word that I [am] going to intone over you [as] a lament, O house of Israel!
In that day they will raise a proverb against you, and will wail a bitter wailing, saying, "We are utterly ruined; he exchanges [the] portion of my people. How he removes [it] from me; he apportions our field to an apostate."
