'Wailing' in the Bible

So Tamar put dust on her head [in grief] and tore the long-sleeved robe which she had on, and she put her hand on her head and went away crying out [for help].

In each and every province that the decree and law of the king reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

For the cry of distress has echoed around the territory of Moab;The wailing goes as far as Eglaim and the mournful cry to Beer-elim.

“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,And a [funeral] dirge for the pastures of the wilderness,Because they are burned up and desolated so that no one passes through [them];Nor can anyone hear the lowing of cattle.Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

“Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us,That our eyes may shed tearsAnd our eyelids flow with water.

“For a sound of wailing is heard [coming] from Zion:‘How we are ruined!We are greatly perplexed and utterly shamed,Because we have left the land,Because they have torn down our dwellings.’”

“A voice! The cry of the shepherdsAnd the wailing of the masters of the flock!For the Lord is destroying their pasture,

Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness; none of them (Israel) will remain, none of their people, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them.

“The pasture lands and the countryside will shakeAt the [piercing] sound of the [hopeless, wailing] cry of your pilots.

And they will make their voice heard [as they wail loudly] over youAnd they will cry bitterly.They will throw dust on their heads;They will wallow in ashes.

“And they will make themselves [completely] bald for youAnd wrap themselves in sackcloth;And in bitterness of soul they will weep for youWith bitter mourning and wailing.

“In their wailing they will take up a dirge (funeral poem to be sung) for youAnd sing a dirge for you:‘Who is like Tyre,Like her who is silent [destroyed] in the midst of the sea?

Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,“There is wailing in all the public plazas,And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’And they call the farmers to mourning [for those who have died]And professional mourners to wailing.

“And in all vineyards there is wailing,For I will pass through your midst [in judgment],” says the Lord.

Because of this I [Micah] must lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) and wail,I must go barefoot and naked [without outer garments as if robbed];I must wail like the jackalsAnd lament [with a loud, mournful cry] like the ostriches.

Go on your way [into exile—stripped of beauty, disarmed], inhabitants of Shaphir (Beautiful), in shameful nakedness.The inhabitant of Zaanan (Go Out) does not go out [of the house];The wailing of Beth-ezel (House of Removal) will take away from you its support.

“On that day,” declares the Lord,“There will be the sound of crying from the Fish (Damascus) Gate [in the northern wall of Jerusalem where invaders enter]And wailing from the Second Quarter [of the city],And a loud crash from the hills.

There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail,For their splendor (grazing land) is ruined;There is a sound of the young lions’ roar,For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

“A voice was heard in Ramah,Weeping and great mourning,Rachel weeping for her children;She refused to be comforted,Because they were no more.”

and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].

and throw the wicked into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].

They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He looked [with understanding] at the uproar and commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing [in mourning].