40 Bible Verses about Lamenting
Most Relevant Verses
The king chanted the following lament for Abner: "Should Abner have died like a fool? Your hands were not bound, and your feet were not put into irons. You fell the way one falls before criminals." All the people wept over him again.
When they came to the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.
The Lord says, "A sound is heard in Ramah, a sound of crying in bitter grief. It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone."
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone."
They came to the house of the synagogue ruler where he saw noisy confusion and people weeping and wailing loudly.
Now they were all wailing and mourning for her, but he said, "Stop your weeping; she is not dead but asleep."
A great number of the people followed him, among them women who were mourning and wailing for him.
Then the people who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw her get up quickly and go out. They followed her, because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed.
The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord. O Lord, hear my prayer! Pay attention to my cry for help! Do not ignore me in my time of trouble! Listen to me! When I call out to you, quickly answer me!
Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah which all the male and female singers use to mourn Josiah to this very day. It has become customary in Israel to sing these; they are recorded in the Book of Laments.
Then David chanted this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan. (He gave instructions that the people of Judah should be taught "The Bow." Indeed, it is written down in the Book of Yashar.) The beauty of Israel lies slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen!read more.
Don't report it in Gath, don't spread the news in the streets of Ashkelon, or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised will celebrate! O mountains of Gilboa, may there be no dew or rain on you, nor fields of grain offerings! For it was there that the shield of warriors was defiled; the shield of Saul lies neglected without oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of warriors, the bow of Jonathan was not turned away. The sword of Saul never returned empty. Saul and Jonathan were greatly loved during their lives, and not even in their deaths were they separated. They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet as well as jewelry, who put gold jewelry on your clothes. How the warriors have fallen in the midst of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your high places! I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan! You were very dear to me. Your love was more special to me than the love of women. How the warriors have fallen! The weapons of war are destroyed!
Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, family of Israel: "The virgin Israel has fallen down and will not get up again. She is abandoned on her own land with no one to help her get up."
(Alef)Alas! The city once full of people now sits all alone! The prominent lady among the nations has become a widow! The princess who once ruled the provinces has become a forced laborer!
A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, a rope will replace a belt, baldness will replace braided locks of hair, a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe, and a prisoner's brand will replace beauty. Your men will fall by the sword, your strong men will die in battle. Her gates will mourn and lament; deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground.
Ariel is as good as dead -- Ariel, the town David besieged! Keep observing your annual rituals, celebrate your festivals on schedule. I will threaten Ariel, and she will mourn intensely and become like an altar hearth before me.
Like a lion that has come up from its lair the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. He is coming out to lay your land waste. Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited. So put on sackcloth! Mourn and wail, saying, 'The fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us!'"
So, mourn, you people of this nation. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the Lord has decided to reject and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!'"
I said, "I will weep and mourn for the grasslands on the mountains, I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness because they are so scorched no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard there. Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields have fled and are gone."
(He) The Lord, like an enemy, destroyed Israel. He destroyed all her palaces; he ruined her fortified cities. He made everyone in Daughter Judah mourn and lament.
Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll. He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front and back; written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.
So I weep along with Jazer over the vines of Sibmah. I will saturate you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for the conquering invaders shout triumphantly over your fruit and crops. Joy and happiness disappear from the orchards, and in the vineyards no one rejoices or shouts; no one treads out juice in the wine vats -- I have brought the joyful shouts to an end. So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, my inner being sighs for Kir Hareseth.
My heart cries out because of Moab's plight, and for the fugitives stretched out as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah. For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith; they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim.
So Moab wails over its demise -- they all wail! Completely devastated, they moan about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.
The fishermen will mourn and lament, all those who cast a fishhook into the river, and those who spread out a net on the water's surface will grieve.
So my heart moans for Moab like a flute playing a funeral song. Yes, like a flute playing a funeral song, my heart moans for the people of Kir Heres. For the wealth they have gained will perish.
They will sing this lament over you: "'How you have perished -- you have vanished from the seas, O renowned city, once mighty in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror! Now the coastlands will tremble on the day of your fall; the coastlands by the sea will be terrified by your passing.'
"Son of man, prophesy and say, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'Wail, "Alas, the day is here!" For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of storm clouds, it will be a time of judgment for the nations. A sword will come against Egypt and panic will overtake Ethiopia when the slain fall in Egypt and they carry away her wealth and dismantle her foundations.
(He) Her foes subjugated her; her enemies are at ease. For the Lord afflicted her because of her many acts of rebellion. Her children went away captive before the enemy.
Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? (Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.
Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.
Now when Mordecai became aware of all that had been done, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went out into the city, crying out in a loud and bitter voice.
"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone."
So put on sackcloth! Mourn and wail, saying, 'The fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us!'"
So I said, "Oh, my dear people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with painful sobs as though you had lost your only child. For any moment now that destructive army will come against us."
In that day people will sing this taunt song to you -- they will mock you with this lament: 'We are completely destroyed; they sell off the property of my people. How they remove it from me! They assign our fields to the conqueror.'
