'Wail' in the Bible

When Esau realized what his father Isaac was saying, he began to wail out loud bitterly. "Bless me," he cried, "even me, too, my father!"

And it cometh to pass, from the day of the dwelling of the ark in Kirjath-Jearim, that the days are multiplied -- yea, they are twenty years -- and wail do all the house of Israel after Jehovah.

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that made us wail required mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

And Jerusalem’s gates will lament (cry out in grief) and mourn [as those who wail for the dead];And she, being ruined and desolate, will sit upon the ground.

Wail! For the day of the Lord is near.It will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Wail, you gates! Cry out, city!Tremble with fear, all Philistia!For a cloud of dust is coming from the north,and there is no one missing from the invader’s ranks.

In their streets they wear sackcloth; on their roofs and in their town squares all of them wail, they fall down weeping.

For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab,Its wail goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim.

Therefore let Moab wail;let every one of them wail for Moab.Mourn, you who are completely devastated,for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

An oracle against Tyre:Wail, ships of Tarshish,for your haven has been destroyed.Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.

Cross over to Tarshish;wail, inhabitants of the coastland!

Wail, ships of Tarshish,because your fortress is destroyed!

So now what have I here”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“that My people are taken away for nothing?Its rulers wail”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.

“Behold, My servants will shout joyfully with a glad heart,But you will cry out with a heavy heart,And you will wail with a broken spirit.

Because of this, put on sackcloth;mourn and wail,for the Lord’s burning angerhas not turned away from us.

I said, "Indeed, let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us. Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes and our eyelids overflow with water.

For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion. They will wail, 'We are utterly ruined! We are completely disgraced! For our houses have been torn down and we must leave our land.'"

Wail, you shepherds, and cry out.Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.Because the days of your slaughter have come,you will fall and become shattered like a precious vase.

Hear the sound of the shepherds’ cry,the wail of the leaders of the flock,for the Lord is destroying their pasture.

Thus saith Jehovah: A voice hath been heard in Ramah, the wail of very bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

This is what the Lord says:Look, waters are rising from the northand becoming an overflowing wadi.They will overflow the land and everything in it,the cities and their inhabitants.The people will cry out,and every inhabitant of the land will wail.

Moab is put to shame, indeed dismayed.Wail and cry out!Declare by the Arnonthat Moab is destroyed.

Therefore, I will wail over Moab.I will cry out for Moab, all of it;he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

“How broken it is! They wail! How Moab has turned his back! He is ashamed. Moab will become a laughingstock and a shock to all those around him.”

Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated;cry out, daughters of Rabbah!Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament;run back and forth within your walls,because Milcom will go into exiletogether with his priests and officials.

Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.Wail for her;get balm for her wound—perhaps she can be healed.

Cry out and wail, son of man,for it is against My people.It is against all the princes of Israel!They are given over to the sword with My people.Therefore strike your thigh in grief.

As they wail they will lament over you, chanting: "Who was like Tyre, like a tower in the midst of the sea?"

“Son of man, prophesy and say: This is what the Lord God says:Wail: Woe for the day!

Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.

They do not cry to Me from their hearts;rather, they wail on their beds.They slash themselves for grain and new wine;they turn away from Me.

The inhabitants of Samaria will lament over the calf idol of Beth Aven. Its people will mourn over it; its idolatrous priests will wail over it, because its splendor will be taken from them into exile.

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;wail, all you wine drinkers,because of the sweet wine,for it has been taken from your mouth.

Wail, as a virgin girdeth with sackcloth, For the husband of her youth.

Be ashamed, you farmers,wail, you vinedressers,over the wheat and the barley,because the harvest of the field has perished.

Dress in sackcloth and lament, you priests;wail, you ministers of the altar.Come and spend the night in sackcloth,you ministers of my God,because grain and drink offeringsare withheld from the house of your God.

Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:There will be wailing in all the public squares;they will cry out in anguish in all the streets.The farmer will be called on to mourn,and professional mourners to wail.

The women singing in the temple will wail in that day." The sovereign Lord is speaking. "There will be many corpses littered everywhere! Be quiet!"

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

“On that day they shall take up a [taunting, deriding] parable against youAnd wail with a doleful and bitter song of mourning and say,‘We are completely destroyed!God exchanges the inheritance of my people;How He removes it from me!He divides our fields to the rebellious [our captors].’

“On that day,” declares the Lord,“There will be the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate,A wail from the Second Quarter,And a loud crash from the hills.

Wail, you residents of the Hollow,for all the merchants will be silenced;all those loaded with silver will be cut off.

Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen;the glorious trees are destroyed!Wail, oaks of Bashan,for the stately forest has fallen!

Listen to the wail of the shepherds,for their glory is destroyed.Listen to the roar of young lions,for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

Woe to you who are well-fed (gorged, satiated) now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now [enjoying a life of self-indulgence], for you will mourn and weep [and deeply long for God].

“I assure you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.

Come now, you rich people! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication, and lived luxuriously with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they see the smoke of her burning,

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more; nor sorrow, nor wail of woe, nor pain; for the first things have passed away."