'Mourning' in the Bible

So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

Now after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

When the days of mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,

When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed seven days mourning for his father.

Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

When the people heard this sad word, they went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments.

I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.

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.

When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days;

The victory that day was turned to mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day, “The king is grieved for his son.”

Then Ezra rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.

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.

Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered.

because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

“I go about mourning without comfort;I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

“Therefore my harp is turned to mourning,And my flute to the sound of those who weep.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

I went about as though it were my friend or brother;I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother.

I am bent over and greatly bowed down;I go mourning all day long.

I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me?Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

It is better to go to a house of mourningThan to go to a house of feasting,Because that is the end of every man,And the living takes it to heart.

The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

I will bring distress to Ariel,And she will be a city of lamenting and mourning;And she will be like an Ariel to me.

“Your sun will no longer set,Nor will your moon wane;For you will have the Lord for an everlasting light,And the days of your mourning will be over.

To grant those who mourn in Zion,Giving them a garland instead of ashes,The oil of gladness instead of mourning,The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.So they will be called oaks of righteousness,The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;And send for the wailing women, that they may come!

“Judah mournsAnd her gates languish;They sit on the ground in mourning,And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.

For thus says the Lord, “Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “My lovingkindness and compassion.

Men will not break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother.

“Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance,And the young men and the old, together,For I will turn their mourning into joyAnd will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow.

The roads of Zion are in mourningBecause no one comes to the appointed feasts.All her gates are desolate;Her priests are groaning,Her virgins are afflicted,And she herself is bitter.

The Lord has become like an enemy.He has swallowed up Israel;He has swallowed up all its palaces,He has destroyed its strongholdsAnd multiplied in the daughter of JudahMourning and moaning.

The joy of our hearts has ceased;Our dancing has been turned into mourning.

When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe.

Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, each over his own iniquity.

Groan silently; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your mustache and do not eat the bread of men.”

“Also they will make themselves bald for youAnd gird themselves with sackcloth;And they will weep for you in bitterness of soulWith bitter mourning.

In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.

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

Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,“There is wailing in all the plazas,And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’They also call the farmer to mourningAnd professional mourners to lamentation.

“Then I will turn your festivals into mourningAnd all your songs into lamentation;And I will bring sackcloth on everyone’s loinsAnd baldness on every head.And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

Because of this I must lament and wail,I must go barefoot and naked;I must make a lament like the jackalsAnd a mourning like the ostriches.

In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

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

She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping.

And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.

and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more.

Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’

For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.

The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,

And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’

and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”