the Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

In response the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel tore his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Have him come to me, and he will know there is a prophet in Israel.”

and tore down the pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it a latrine—which it is to this day.

You fed them the bread of tears
and gave them a full measure
of tears to drink.

If it was actually torn apart by a wild animal, he is to bring it as evidence; he does not have to make restitution for the torn carcass.

I eat ashes like bread
and mingle my drinks with tears

Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.

There should be an opening at its top in the center of it. Around the opening, there should be a woven collar with an opening like that of body armor so that it does not tear.

For You, Lord, rescued me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.

Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair hang loose and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the Lord will become angry with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn over that tragedy when the Lord sent the fire.

There was an opening in the center of the robe like that of body armor with a collar around the opening so that it would not tear.

He will tear it open by its wings without dividing the bird. Then the priest is to burn it on the altar on top of the burning wood. It is a burnt offering, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

My eyes pour out streams of tears
because people do not follow Your instruction.

We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s net;
the net is torn, and we have escaped.

Those who sow in tears
will reap with shouts of joy.

“The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair or tear his garments.

You are not to present to the Lord anything that has bruised, crushed, torn, or severed testicles; you must not sacrifice them in your land.

“The person afflicted with an infectious skin disease is to have his clothes torn and his hair hanging loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’

It must be torn down with its stones, its beams, and all its plaster, and taken outside the city to an unclean place.

A city is built up by the blessing of the upright,
but it is torn down by the mouth of the wicked.

Every wise woman builds her house,
but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

As she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets while the singers with musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason, treason!”

So all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They broke its altars and images into pieces and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars.

Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. Then he built cities in the vicinity of Ashdod and among the Philistines.

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes

a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;

a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;

Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.

When all this was completed, all Israel who had attended went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, to the last one. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own possession.

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down and reestablished the altars for the Baals. He made Asherah poles, and he worshiped the whole heavenly host and served them.

Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he chopped down the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

He tore down the altars, and he smashed the Asherah poles and the carved images to powder. He chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel and returned to Jerusalem.

When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.

because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I Myself have heard’—this is the Lord’s declaration.

Now I will tell you
what I am about to do to My vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,
and it will be trampled.

So I join with Jazer
to weep for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears.
Triumphant shouts have fallen silent
over your summer fruit and your harvest.

For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over
and the blossom becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife,
and tear away and remove the branches.

Then the Chaldeans burned God’s temple. They tore down Jerusalem’s wall, burned down all its palaces, and destroyed all its valuable articles.

I also issue a decree concerning any man who interferes with this directive:

Let a beam be torn from his house and raised up; he will be impaled on it, and his house will be made into a garbage dump because of this offense.

You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall.

He will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face
and remove His people’s disgrace
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.

“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life.

When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard, and sat down devastated.

At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation, with my tunic and robe torn. Then I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to Yahweh my God.

Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn up their carved images.

I gave My back to those who beat Me,
and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard.
I did not hide My face from scorn and spitting.

Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?

If only You would tear the heavens open
and come down,
so that mountains would quake at Your presence—

See, I have appointed you today
over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and demolish,
to build and plant.

For long ago I broke your yoke;
I tore off your chains.
You insisted, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree
you lie down like a prostitute.

I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness.
All its cities were torn down
because of the Lord
and His burning anger.

I will go to the powerful
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
However, these also had broken the yoke
and torn off the chains.

Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.
A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them.
A leopard keeps watch over their cities.
Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellious acts are many,
their unfaithful deeds numerous.

Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you;
I will make you a desolation,
a land without inhabitants.

If my head were a spring of water,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
over the slain of my dear people.

Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us
so that our eyes may overflow with tears,
our eyelids soaked with weeping.

For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed,
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.

When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.

He said about Gad:

The one who enlarges Gad’s territory
will be blessed.
He lies down like a lion
and tears off an arm or even a head.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell before the ark of the Lord with his face to the ground until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads.

But if you will not listen,
my innermost being will weep in secret
because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
for the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

You are to speak this word to them:
Let my eyes overflow with tears;
day and night may they not stop,
for the virgin daughter of my people
has been destroyed by a great disaster,
an extremely severe wound.

At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.

“As I live,” says the Lord, “though you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would tear you from it.

Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.

You are not to make a covenant with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done?

This is what the Lord says:

Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for the reward for your work will come—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
and your children will return from the enemy’s land.

Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, so will I be attentive to build and to plant them,” says the Lord.

For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of Judah’s kings, the ones torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword:

As they heard all these words, the king and all of his servants did not become terrified or tear their garments.

The Chaldeans next burned down the king’s palace and the people’s houses and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.

80 men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who had shaved their beards, torn their garments, and gashed themselves, and who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the Lord.

Whatever He tears down cannot be rebuilt;
whoever He imprisons cannot be released.

On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built.

Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”

But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.”

That day, Gideon’s father called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead his case with him,” because he tore down his altar.

He also told the men of Penuel, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower!”

He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

So Abimelech fought against the city that entire day, captured it, and killed the people who were in it. Then he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have devastated me! You have brought great misery on me. I have given my word to the Lord and cannot take it back.”

He tore them limb from limb with a great slaughter, and he went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

ב BetShe weeps aloud during the night,
with tears on her cheeks.
There is no one to offer her comfort,
not one from all her lovers.
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.

ע AyinI weep because of these things;
my eyes flow with tears.
For there is no one nearby to comfort me,
no one to keep me alive.
My children are desolate
because the enemy has prevailed.

צ TsadeThe hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.
Wall of Daughter Zion,
let your tears run down like a river
day and night.
Give yourself no relief
and your eyes no rest.

He forced me off my way and tore me to pieces;
He left me desolate.

My eyes flow with streams of tears
because of the destruction of my dear people.

His anger tears at me, and He harasses me.
He gnashes His teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with His eyes.

You who tear yourself in anger—
should the earth be abandoned on your account,
or a rock be removed from its place?

He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.
He uproots my hope like a tree.

Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears.

That same day, a Benjaminite man ran from the battle and came to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and there was dirt on his head.

I will tear down the wall you plastered with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.