'Weeping' in the Bible

Now Deborah, [who once was] Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth (Oak of Weeping).

When the days of weeping and public mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,

Now Moses heard the people weeping [in self-pity] throughout their families, every man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses regarded their behavior as evil.

Then one of the Israelites came and presented to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of the Israelites, while they were weeping [over God’s judgment] at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle).

So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

Hannah was greatly distressed, and she prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.

Now Saul was coming out of the field behind the oxen, and he said, “What is the matter with the people that they are weeping?” So they told him about the report of the men of Jabesh.

But her husband went with her, weeping continually behind her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner told him, “Go, return.” And he did so.

And David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and walking barefoot [in despair]. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.

It was told to Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning 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 confessing, weeping and laying himself face down before the house of God, a very large group from Israel, of men, women, and children, gathered to him, for the people wept bitterly.

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

“My face is red and swollen with weeping,And on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],

I am weary with my groaning;Every night I soak my bed with tears,I drench my couch with my weeping.

Depart from me, all you who do evil,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 endure for a night,But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs;The early rain also covers it with blessings.

For I have eaten ashes like bread,And have mingled my drink with tears

He who goes back and forth weeping, carrying his bag of seed [for planting],Will indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

In their streets they have wrapped themselves with sackcloth;On their [flat] housetops and in their open squaresEveryone is wailing, dissolved in tears.

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

Therefore I (Isaiah) will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vines of Sibmah.I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh;For the war-cry [of the enemy] has fallen on your summer fruits and your harvest.

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

“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 barren heights,The weeping and pleading of the children of Israel,Because they have lost their way,They have [deliberately] forgotten the Lord their God.

“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains,And a [funeral] dirge for the pastures of the wilderness,Because they are burned up and desolated so that no one passes through [them];Nor can anyone hear the lowing of cattle.Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they are gone.

“They will come with weeping [in repentance and for joy],And by [their] prayer [for the future] 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 (Israel) is My firstborn.”

Thus says the Lord,“A voice is heard in Ramah,Lamentation (songs of mourning) and bitter weeping.Rachel (Israel) is weeping for her children;She refuses to be comforted for her children,Because they are gone.”

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

Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping [false tears] as he went. As he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!”

“For the Ascent of LuhithWill be climbed by [successive groups of] fugitives with continual weeping;For on the descent of HoronaimThey have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.

“O vines of Sibmah, I will weep for youMore than the weeping of Jazer [over its ruins and wasted vineyards].Your tendrils [of influence] stretched across the sea,Reaching [even] to the sea of Jazer.The destroyer has fallenOn your summer fruits and your [season’s] crop of grapes.

“In those days and at that time,” says the Lord, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will come up weeping [in repentance] as they come and seek the Lord their God [inquiring for and of Him].

My eyes fail because of tears [mourns Jeremiah],My spirit is deeply disturbed;My heart is poured out on the earth [in grief]Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people [Jerusalem],When little ones and infants faintIn the streets of the city.

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

“Even now,” says the Lord,“Turn and come to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance],With fasting and weeping and mourning [until every barrier is removed and the broken fellowship is restored];

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