'Weeping' in the Bible

Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased.

Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life.

But her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” So he returned.

While all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people passed over. The king also passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness.

And David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went, and his head was covered and he walked barefoot. Then all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went.

Then it was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourns for Absalom.”

so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly.

Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

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

“My face is flushed from weeping,And deep darkness is on my eyelids,

Depart from me, all you who do iniquity,For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.

For His anger is but for a moment,His favor is for a lifetime;Weeping may last for the night,But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

For I have eaten ashes like breadAnd mingled my drink with weeping

He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

My heart cries out for Moab;His fugitives are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah,For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping;Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their ruin.

Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing,To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth.

“I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;And there will no longer be heard in herThe voice of weeping and the sound of crying.

A voice is heard on the bare heights,The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel;Because they have perverted their way,They have forgotten the Lord their God.

“For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge,Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

“With weeping they will come,And by supplication I will lead them;I will make them walk by streams of waters,On a straight path in which they will not stumble;For I am a father to Israel,And Ephraim is My firstborn.”

Thus says the Lord,“A voice is heard in Ramah,Lamentation and bitter weeping.Rachel is weeping for her children;She refuses to be comforted for her children,Because they are no more.”

Thus says the Lord,“Restrain your voice from weepingAnd your eyes from tears;For your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord,“And they will return from the land of the enemy.

Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went; and as he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!”

“For by the ascent of LuhithThey will ascend with continual weeping;For at the descent of HoronaimThey have heard the anguished cry of destruction.

“More than the weeping for JazerI will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!Your tendrils stretched across the sea,They reached to the sea of Jazer;Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvestThe destroyer has fallen.

“In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God they will seek.

Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,“Return to Me with all your heart,And with fasting, weeping and mourning;

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

“This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.