'Grief' in the Bible

To the woman He said,“I will greatly multiplyYour pain in childbirth;In pain you will give birth to children;Yet your desire and longing will be for your husband,And he will rule [with authority] over you and be responsible for you.”

and they were a source of grief to [Esau’s parents] Isaac and Rebekah.

But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down [to Egypt] with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left [of Rachel’s children]. If any harm or accident should happen to him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in sorrow.”

When the days of weeping and public mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,

that this [incident] will not cause grief or [bring] a troubled conscience to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the Lord deals well with my lord, then remember [with favor] your maidservant.”

So they sat down on the ground with Job for seven days and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

“Oh, that my grief could actually be weighedAnd placed in the balances together with my tragedy [to see if my grief is the grief of a coward]!

“My eye has grown dim (unexpressive) because of grief,And all my [body’s] members are [wasted away] like a shadow.

My eye grows dim with grief;It grows old because of all my enemies.

You have seen it, for You have noted mischief and vexation (irritation) to take it into Your hand.The unfortunate commits himself to You;You are the helper of the fatherless.

Be gracious and compassionate to me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;My eye is clouded and weakened by grief, my soul and my body also.

For they have persecuted him whom You have struck,And they tell of the pain of those whom You have pierced and wounded.

And I said, “This is my grief,That the right hand of the Most High has changed [and His lovingkindness is withheld].”

The cords and sorrows of death encompassed me,And the terrors of Sheol came upon me;I found distress and sorrow.

The proverbs of Solomon:A wise son makes a father glad,But a foolish [stubborn] son [who refuses to learn] is a grief to his mother.

Even in laughter the heart may be in pain,And the end of joy may be grief.

A foolish son is a grief and anguish to his fatherAnd bitterness to her who gave birth to him.

For all his days his work is painful and sorrowful; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity (worthless).

Tremble, you women who are carefree;Tremble with fear, you complacent ones!Strip, undress and wear sackcloth on your waist [in grief],

Listen carefully, all you who kindle your own fire [devising your own man-made plan of salvation],Who surround yourselves with torches,Walk by the light of your [self-made] fireAnd among the torches that you have set ablaze.But this you will have from My hand:You will lie down in [a place of] torment.

He was despised and rejected by men,A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;And like One from whom men hide their facesHe was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.

Yet the Lord was willingTo crush Him, causing Him to suffer;If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin],He shall see His [spiritual] offspring,He shall prolong His days,And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand.

Oh, that I (Jeremiah) could find comfort from my sorrow [for my grief is beyond healing],My heart is sick and faint within me!

“Woe to me because of my [spiritual] brokenness!” [says Jeremiah, speaking for the nation.]“My wound is incurable.”But I said, “Surely this sickness and suffering and grief are mine,And I must bear it.”

My eyes fail because of tears [mourns Jeremiah],My spirit is deeply disturbed;My heart is poured out on the earth [in grief]Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people [Jerusalem],When little ones and infants faintIn the streets of the city.

For if He causes grief,Then He will have compassionAccording to His abundant lovingkindness and tender mercy.

My eyes [see things that] bring pain to my soulBecause of all the daughters of my city.

Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold (listen carefully), I am going to break the staff of bread [that supports life] in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread [rationed] by weight and [eat it] with anxiety and fear, and drink water by measure and [drink it] in horror [of the impending starvation],

They will also cover themselves with sackcloth; horror will overwhelm them, and shame will be on all faces and baldness on all their heads [as evidence of grief].

“These who pant after (long to see) the dust of the earth on the head of the helpless [as sign of their grief and distress]Also turn aside the way of the humble;And a man and his father will go to the same girlSo that My holy name is profaned.

Announce it not in Gath [in Philistia],Weep not at all [and in this way betray your grief to Gentiles];In Beth-le-aphrah (House of Dust) roll in the dust [among your own people].

And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John], He began to be grieved and greatly distressed.

And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved and overwhelmed with sorrow, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.”

When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow,

And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].

So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her, saw how quickly Mary got up and left, they followed her, assuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

A woman, when she is in labor, has pain because her time [to give birth] has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of her joy that a child has come into the world.

that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others’ joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others’ grief].

But if someone has caused [all this] sorrow, he has caused it not to me, but in some degree—not to put it too severely—[he has distressed and grieved] all of you.

yet I am glad now, not because you were hurt and made sorry, but because your sorrow led to repentance [and you turned back to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that you might not suffer loss in anything on our account.

For [godly] sorrow that is in accord with the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but worldly sorrow [the hopeless sorrow of those who do not believe] produces death.

Be miserable and grieve and weep [over your sin]. Let your [foolish] laughter be turned to mourning and your [reckless] joy to gloom.

and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be death; there will no longer be sorrow and anguish, or crying, or pain; for the former order of things has passed away.”