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mourn
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The span of Sarah's life was one hundred and twenty-seven years.
She died in Kiriatharba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham performed the customary mourning rites for her.
[GEN 23:1-2]
Esau bore Jacob a grudge because of the blessing his father had
given him. He said to himself, "When the time of mourning for
my father comes, I will kill my brother Jacob." [GEN 27:41]
Then Jacob rent his clothes, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned his son many days. Though his sons and daughters tried to console him, he refused all consolation, saying, "No, I will go down mourning to my son in the nether world." Thus did his father lament him.
[GEN 37:34-35]
Years passed, and Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died.
After Judah completed the period of mourning, he went up to Timnah
for the shearing of his sheep, in company with his friend Hirah
the Adullamite. [GEN 38:12]
Joseph threw himself on his father's face and wept over him as
he kissed him...The Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. When
that period of mourning was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's
courtiers. "Please do me this favor," he said, "and
convey to Pharaoh this request of mine. Since my father, at the
point of death, made me promise on oath to bury him in the tomb
that he had prepared for himself in the land of Canaan, may I go
up there to bury my father and then come back?" When they
arrived at Goren-ha-atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held
there a very great and solemn memorial service; and Joseph
observed seven days of mourning for his father. When the
Canaanites who inhabited the land saw the mourning at
Goren-ha-atad, they said, "This is a solemn funeral the
Egyptians are having." That is why the place was named
Abel-mizraim. It is beyond the Jordan. [GEN 50:1,3-5,10-11]
The LORD told Moses, "You and the people whom you have
brought up from the land of Egypt, are to go up from here to the
land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob I would give to
their descendants. Driving out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites,
Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, I will send an angel before you
to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I myself will not go
up in your company, because you are a stiff-necked people;
otherwise I might exterminate you on the way." When the
people heard this bad news, they went into mourning, and no one
wore his ornaments. [EX 33:1-4]
Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do
not bare your heads or tear your garments, lest you bring not only
death on yourselves but God's wrath also on the whole community.
Your kinsmen, the rest of the house of Israel, shall mourn for
those whom the LORD'S fire has smitten; but do not you go beyond
the entry of the meeting tent, else you shall die; for the
anointing oil of the LORD is upon you." So they did as Moses
told them. [LEV 10:6-7]
Moses did as the LORD commanded. When they had climbed Mount
Hor in view of the whole community, Moses stripped Aaron of his
garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Then Aaron died there on
top of the mountain. When Moses and Eleazar came down from the
mountain, all the community understood that Aaron had passed away;
and for thirty days the whole house of Israel mourned him. [NUM
20:27-29]
I have not eaten any of the tithe as a mourner; I have not
brought any of it out as one unclean; I have not offered any of it
to the dead. I have thus hearkened to the voice of the LORD, my
God, doing just as you have commanded me. [DEUT 26:14]
For thirty days the Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of
Moab, till they had completed the period of grief and mourning for
Moses. [DEUT 34:8]
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said, "Alas,
daughter, you have struck me down and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract."
"Father," she replied, "you have made a vow to the
LORD. Do with me as you have vowed, because the LORD has wrought
vengeance for you on your enemies the Ammonites." Then she
said to her father, "Let me have this favor. Spare me for two
months, that I may go off down the mountains to mourn my virginity
with my companions." "Go," he replied, and sent her
away for two months. So she departed with her companions and
mourned her virginity on the mountains. At the end of the two
months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed.
She had not been intimate with man. It then became a custom in
Israel for Israelite women to go yearly to mourn the daughter of
Jephthah the Gileadite for four days of the year. [JUDG 11:35-40]
The descendants of Jeconiah did not join in the celebration
with the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh when they greeted the ark of
the LORD, and seventy of them were struck down. The people went
into mourning at this great calamity with which the LORD had
afflicted them. [1SAM 6:19]
Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn him; they buried
him at his home in Ramah. Then David went down to the desert of
Maon. [1SAM 25:1]
Now Samuel had died and, after being mourned by all Israel, was
buried in his city, Ramah. Meanwhile Saul had driven mediums and
fortune-tellers out of the land. [1SAM 28:3]
They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his
son Jonathan, and for the soldiers of the LORD of the clans of
Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. [2SAM 1:12]
Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with
him, "Rend your garments, gird yourselves with sackcloth, and
mourn over Abner." King David himself followed the bier.
[2SAM 3:31]
When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband had died, she
mourned her lord. But once the mourning was over, David sent for her and brought
her into his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But
the LORD was displeased with what David had done. [2SAM 11:26-27]
The king continued during all that time to mourn over his son;
but his longing reached out for Absalom as he became reconciled to
the death of Amnon. When Joab, son of Zeruiah, observed how the
king felt toward Absalom, he sent to Tekoa and brought from there
a gifted woman, to whom he said: "Pretend to be in mourning.
Put on mourning apparel and do not anoint yourself with oil, that
you may appear to be a woman who has been long in mourning for a
departed one. Then go to the king and speak to him in this
manner." And Joab instructed her what to say.
[2SAM 13:39,14:1-3]
Joab was told that the king was weeping and mourning for Absalom;
and that day's victory was turned into mourning for the whole army when they heard that the king was grieving for his son.
[2SAM 19:2-3]
The prophet lifted up the body of the man of God and put it on
the ass, and brought it back to the city to mourn over it and to
bury it. He laid the man's body in his own grave, and they mourned
over it: "Alas, my brother!" After he had buried him, he
said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the
man of God is buried. Lay my remains beside his." [1KGS 13:29-31]
"So leave; go home! As you step inside the city, the child
will die, and all Israel will mourn him and bury him, for he alone
of Jeroboam's line will be laid in the grave, since in him alone
of Jeroboam's house has something pleasing to the LORD, the God of
Israel, been found. Today, at this very moment, the LORD will
raise up for himself a king of Israel who will destroy the house
of Jeroboam. The LORD will strike Israel like a reed tossed about
in the water and will pluck out Israel from this good land which
he gave their fathers, scattering them beyond the River, because
they made sacred poles for themselves and thus provoked the LORD.
He will give up Israel because of the sins Jeroboam has committed
and caused Israel to commit." So Jeroboam's wife started
back; when she reached Tirzah and crossed the threshold of her
house, the child died. He was buried with all Israel mourning him,
as the LORD had prophesied through his servant the prophet Ahijah.
[1KGS 14:12-18]
Their father Ephraim mourned a long time, but after his kinsmen had come and comforted him, he visited his wife, who conceived and bore a son whom he named Beriah, since evil had befallen his house.
[1CHRON 7:22-23]
Then the archers shot King Josiah, who said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am seriously wounded." His servants removed him from his own chariot, placed him in another he had in reserve, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned him.
[2CHRON 35:23-24]
Then Ezra retired from his place before the house of God and
entered the chamber of Johanan, son of Eliashib, where he spent
the night neither eating food nor drinking water, for he was in
mourning over the betrayal by the exiles. [EZRA 10:6]
The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah. In the month
Chislev of the twentieth year, I was in the citadel of Susa when
Hanani, one of my brothers, came with other men from Judah. I
asked them about the Jews, the remnant preserved after the
captivity, and about Jerusalem, and they answered me: "The
survivors of the captivity there in the province are in great
distress and under reproach. Also, the wall of Jerusalem lies
breached, and its gates have been gutted with fire." When I
heard this report, I began to weep and continued mourning for
several days; I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. [NEH
1:1-4]
Tobiah went out to look for some poor kinsman of ours. When he
returned he exclaimed, "Father!" I said to him,
"What is it, son?" He answered, "Father, one of our
people has been murdered! His body lies in the market
place..." I sprang to my feet, leaving the dinner untouched;
and I carried the dead man from the street and put him in one of
the rooms, so that I might bury him after sunset. Returning to my
own quarters, I washed myself and ate my food in sorrow. I was
reminded of the oracle pronounced by the prophet Amos against
Bethel: "Your festivals shall be turned into mourning, And
all your songs into lamentation." And I wept. Then at sunset
I went out, dug a grave, and buried him. The neighbors mocked me,
saying to one another: "Will this man never learn! Once
before he was hunted down for execution because of this very
thing; yet now that he has escaped, here he is again burying the
dead!" [Taken from TOBIT 2:3-8]
When those days were over, each one returned to his
inheritance. Judith went back to Bethulia and remained on her
estate. For the rest of her life she was renowned throughout the
land. Many wished to marry her, but she gave herself to no man all
the days of her life from the time of the death and burial of her
husband, Manasseh. She lived to be very old in the house of her
husband, reaching the advanced age of a hundred and five. She died
in Bethulia, where they buried her in the tomb of her husband,
Manasseh; and the house of Israel mourned her for seven days.
Before she died, she distributed her goods to the relatives of her
husband, Manasseh, and to her own relatives; and to the maid she
gave her freedom. During the life of Judith and for a long time
after her death, no one again disturbed the Israelites. [JDTH 16:21-25]
When Mordecai learned all that was happening, he tore his
garments, put on sackcloth and ashes, and walked through the city
crying out loudly and bitterly, till he came before the royal
gate, which no one clothed in sackcloth might enter. (Likewise in
each of the provinces, wherever the king's legal enactment
reached, the Jews went into deep mourning, with fasting, weeping,
and lament; they all slept on sackcloth and ashes.) Queen Esther's
maids and eunuchs came and told her. Overwhelmed with anguish, she
sent garments for Mordecai to put on, so that he might take off
his sackcloth; but he refused. [ESTH 4:1-4]
Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, likewise had recourse to the Lord. Taking off her splendid garments, she put on garments of distress and mourning. In place of her precious ointments she covered her head with dirt and ashes. She afflicted her body severely; all her festive adornments were put aside, and her hair was wholly disheveled.
Then she prayed to the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: "My Lord, our King, you alone are God. Help me, who am alone and have no help but
you" [Taken from ESTH C:12-14]
Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the
Jews, both near and far, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.
He ordered them to celebrate every year both the fourteenth and
the fifteenth of the month of Adar as the days on which the Jews
obtained rest from their enemies and as the month which was turned
for them from sorrow into joy, from mourning into festivity. They
were to observe these days with feasting and gladness, sending
food to one another and gifts to the poor. [ESTH 9:20-22]
After Antiochus had defeated Egypt in the year one hundred and
forty-three, he returned and went up to Israel and to Jerusalem
with a strong force. He insolently invaded the sanctuary and took
away the golden altar, the lampstand for the light with all its
fixtures, the offering table, the cups and the bowls, the golden
censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the golden ornament on the
facade of the temple. He stripped off everything, and took away
the gold and silver and the precious vessels; he also took all the
hidden treasures he could find. Taking all this, he went back to
his own country, after he had spoken with great arrogance and shed
much blood. And there was great mourning for Israel, in every
place where they dwelt, and the rulers and the elders groaned.
Virgins and young men languished, and the beauty of the women was
disfigured. Every bridegroom took up lamentation, she who sat in
the bridal chamber mourned, And the land was shaken on account of
its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was covered with
shame. [1MACC 1:20-28]
The citadel became an ambush against the sanctuary, and a
wicked adversary to Israel at all times. And they shed innocent
blood around the sanctuary; they defiled the sanctuary. Because of
them the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away, and she became the
abode of strangers. She became a stranger to her own offspring,
and her children forsook her. Her sanctuary was as desolate as a
wilderness; her feasts were turned into mourning, Her sabbaths to
shame, her honor to contempt. Her dishonor was as great as her
glory had been, and her exaltation was turned into mourning. [1MACC
1:36-40]
"We see our sanctuary and our beauty and our glory laid waste,
And the Gentiles have defiled them! Why are we still alive?" Then Mattathias and his sons tore their garments, put on sackcloth, and mourned bitterly.
[1MACC 2:13-14]
"Enough of this!" the pursuers said to them.
"Come out and obey the king's command, and your lives will be
spared." But they replied, "We will not come out, nor
will we obey the king's command to profane the sabbath." Then
the enemy attacked them at once; but they did not retaliate; they
neither threw stones, nor blocked up their own hiding places. They
said, "Let us all die without reproach; heaven and earth are
our witnesses that you destroy us unjustly." So the officers
and soldiers attacked them on the sabbath, and they died with
their wives, their children and their cattle, to the number of a
thousand persons. When Mattathias and his friends heard of it,
they mourned deeply for them. [1MACC 2:33-39]
[Mattathias] died in the year one hundred and forty-six, and was buried
in the tombs of his fathers in Modein, and all Israel mourned him
greatly. [Taken from 1MACC 2:70]
For your sanctuary has been trampled on and profaned, and your
priests are in mourning and humiliation. [1MACC 3:51]
Jonathan and Simon took their brother Judas and buried him in the tomb of their fathers at Modein. All Israel bewailed him in great grief. They mourned for him many days, and they said, "How the mighty one has fallen, the savior of Israel!"
[1MACC 9:19-21]
Remembering the blood of John their brother, they went up and
hid themselves under cover of the mountain. They watched, and
suddenly saw a noisy crowd with baggage; the bridegroom and his
friends and kinsmen had come out to meet the bride's party with
tambourines and musicians and much equipment. The Jews rose up
against them from their ambush and killed them. Many fell wounded,
and after the survivors fled toward the mountain, all their spoils
were taken. Thus the wedding was turned into mourning, and the
sound of music into lamentation. [1MACC 9:38-41]
Thus all these men of Jonathan came safely into the land of
Judah. They mourned over Jonathan and his men, and were in great
fear, and all Israel fell into deep mourning. [1MACC 12:52]
Simon sent for the remains of his brother Jonathan, and buried
him in Modein, the city of his fathers. All Israel bewailed him
with solemn lamentation, mourning over him for many days. Then
Simon erected over the tomb of his father and his brothers a
monument of stones, polished front and back, and raised high
enough to be seen at a distance. He set up seven pyramids facing
one another for his father and his mother and his four brothers.
For the pyramids he devised a setting of big columns, on which he
carved suits of armor as a perpetual memorial, and next to the
armor he placed carved ships, which could be seen by all who
sailed the sea. This tomb which he built at Modein is there to the
present day. [1MACC 13:25-30]
At length [Jason] met a miserable end. Called to account before
Aretas, king of the Arabs, he fled from city to city, hunted by
all men, hated as a transgressor of the laws... After being
driven into Egypt, he crossed the sea to the Spartans, among whom
he hoped to find protection because of his relations with them.
There he who had exiled so many from their country perished in
exile; and he who had cast out so many to lie unburied went
unmourned himself with no funeral of any kind or any place in the
tomb of his ancestors. [Taken from 2MACC 5:8-10]
He sets up on high the lowly, and those who mourn he exalts to
safety. [JOB 5:11]
This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the inheritance
an oppressor receives from the Almighty: Though his children be
many, the sword is their destiny. His offspring shall not be
filled with bread. His survivors, when they die, shall have no
burial, and their widows shall not be mourned. [JOB 27:13-15]
When I smiled on them they were reassured; mourners took comfort from my cheerful glance.
I chose out their way and presided; I took a king's place in the armed forces.
[JOB 29:24-25]
My harp is turned to mourning, and my reed pipe to sounds of
weeping. [JOB 30:31]
You changed my mourning into dancing; you took off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. With my whole being I sing endless praise to you.
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks. [PS 30:12-13]
Malicious witnesses come forward, accuse me of things I do not
know. They repay me evil for good and I am all alone. Yet I, when they were ill, put on sackcloth, afflicted myself with fasting, sobbed my prayers upon my bosom. I went about in grief as for my brother, bent in mourning as for my mother. Yet when I stumbled they
gathered with glee, gathered against me like strangers. They slandered me without ceasing; without respect they mocked me, gnashed their teeth against me.
[PS 35:11-16]
I am stooped and deeply bowed; all day I go about mourning. My
loins burn with fever; my flesh is afflicted. I am numb and
utterly crushed; I wail with anguish of heart. My Lord, my deepest
yearning is before you; my groaning is not hidden from you. My
heart shudders, my strength forsakes me; the very light of my eyes
has failed. [PS 38:7-11]
At dawn may the LORD bestow faithful love that I may sing
praise through the night, praise to the God of my life. I say to
God, "My rock, why do you forget me? Why must I go about
mourning with the enemy oppressing me?" It shatters my bones,
when my adversaries reproach me. They say to me daily: "Where
is your God?" Why are you downcast, my soul, why do you groan
within me? Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and
my God. [PS 42:9-12]
Grant me justice, God; defend me from a faithless people; from the deceitful and unjust rescue me. You, God, are my strength. Why then do you spurn me?
Why must I go about mourning, with the enemy oppressing me? Send your light and fidelity, that they may be my guide
And bring me to your holy mountain, to the place of your dwelling, That I may come to the altar of God, to God, my joy, my delight.
Then I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. [PS 43:1-4]
By the rivers of Babylon we sat mourning and weeping when we
remembered Zion. [PS 137:1]
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
[ECCL 3:1-2,4]
A good name is better than good ointment, and the day of death
than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to the house of feasting, For that is the end of every man,
and the living should take it to heart. Sorrow is better than
laughter, because when the face is sad the heart grows wiser. The
heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of
fools is in the house of mirth. [ECCL 7:1-4]
When the doors to the street are shut, and the sound of the
mill is low; When one waits for the chirp of a bird, but all the
daughters of song are suppressed; And one fears heights, and
perils in the street; When the almond tree blooms, and the locust
grows sluggish and the caper berry is without effect, Because man
goes to his lasting home, and mourners go about the streets;
Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken,
And the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the broken pulley
falls into the well, And the dust returns to the earth as it once
was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it. [ECCL 12:4-7]
For a father, afflicted with untimely mourning, made an image
of the child so quickly taken from him, And now honored as a god
what was formerly a dead man... Then, in time, the impious
practice gained strength and was observed as law, and graven
things were worshiped by princely decrees. [Taken from WISDOM
14:15-16]
But the discordant cry of their enemies responded, and the
piteous wail of mourning for children was borne to them. [WISDOM
18:10]
For while they were still engaged in funeral rites and were
mourning at the burials of the dead, They adopted another
senseless plan; and those whom they had sent away with entreaty,
they pursued as fugitives. [WISDOM 19:3]
Be generous to all the living, and withhold not your kindness from the dead. Avoid not those who weep, but mourn with those who mourn; Neglect not to visit the
sick - for these things you will be loved. [SIRACH 7:33-35]
Like a song in time of mourning is inopportune talk, but lashes
and discipline are at all times wisdom. [SIRACH 22:6]
Seven days of mourning for the dead, but for the wicked fool a
whole lifetime. [SIRACH 22:11]
There are three things at which my heart quakes, a fourth before which I quail:
Though false charges in public, trial before all the people, and lying testimony are harder to bear than death, A jealous wife is heartache and mourning and a scourging tongue like the
other three. [SIRACH 26:5-6]
My son, shed tears for one who is dead with wailing and bitter
lament; As is only proper, prepare the body, absent not yourself
from his burial: Weeping bitterly, mourning fully, pay your
tribute of sorrow, as he deserves, One or two days, to prevent
gossip; then compose yourself after your grief, For grief can
bring on an extremity and heartache destroy one's health. Turn not
your thoughts to him again; cease to recall him; think rather of
the end. Recall him not, for there is no hope of his return; it
will not help him, but will do you harm. Remember that his fate
will also be yours; for him it was yesterday, for you today. With
the departed dead, let memory fade; rally your courage, once the
soul has left. [SIRACH 38:16-23]
For Hezekiah did what was right and held fast to the paths of
David, As ordered by the illustrious prophet Isaiah, who saw the
truth in visions. In his lifetime he turned back the sun and
prolonged the life of the king. By his powerful spirit he looked
into the future and consoled the mourners of Zion; He foretold
what should be till the end of time, hidden things yet to be
fulfilled. [SIRACH 48:22-25]
Her gates will lament and mourn, as the city sits desolate on
the ground. [ISA 3:26]
On that day the Lord, the GOD of hosts, called on you To weep and mourn, to shave your head and put on sackcloth.
But look! you feast and celebrate... This reaches the ears of the LORD of
hosts - You shall not be pardoned this wickedness till you die, says the Lord, the GOD of hosts.
[Taken from ISA 22:12-14]
The earth is utterly laid waste, utterly stripped, for the LORD
has decreed this thing. The earth mourns and fades, the world
languishes and fades; both heaven and earth languish. The earth is
polluted because of its inhabitants, who have transgressed laws,
violated statutes, broken the ancient covenant. Therefore a curse
devours the earth, and its inhabitants pay for their guilt;
Therefore they who dwell on earth turn pale, and few men are left.
The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted groan.
Stilled are the cheerful timbrels, ended the shouts of the
jubilant, stilled is the cheerful harp. They cannot sing and drink
wine; strong drink is bitter to those who partake of it. [ISA 24:3-9]
Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to
year, let the feasts come round. But I will bring distress upon
Ariel, with mourning and grief. You shall be to me like Ariel, I
will encamp like David against you; I will encircle you with
outposts and set up siege works against you. Prostrate you shall
speak from the earth, and from the base dust your words shall
come. Your voice shall be like a ghost's from the earth, and your
words like chirping from the dust. [ISA 29:1-4]
The country languishes in mourning, Lebanon withers with shame;
Sharon is like the steppe, Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
[ISA 33:9]
Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion
singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and
gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee. [ISA 35:10]
I clothe the heavens in mourning, and make sackcloth their
vesture. [ISA 50:3]
Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion
singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and
gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee. [ISA 51:11]
Because of their wicked avarice I was angry, and struck them,
hiding myself in wrath, as they went their own rebellious way. I
saw their ways, but I will heal them and lead them; I will give
full comfort to them and to those who mourn for them, I, the
Creator, who gave them life. Peace, peace to the far and the near,
says the LORD; and I will heal them. But the wicked are like the
tossing sea which cannot be calmed, And its waters cast up mud and
filth. No peace for the wicked! says my God. [ISA 57:17-21]
No longer shall the sun be your light by day, Nor the
brightness of the moon shine upon you at night; The LORD shall be
your light forever, your God shall be your glory. No longer shall
your sun go down, or your moon withdraw, For the LORD will be your
light forever, and the days of your mourning shall be at an end.
Your people shall all be just, they shall always possess the land,
They, the bud of my planting, my handiwork to show my glory. The
smallest shall become a thousand, the youngest, a mighty nation;
I, the LORD, will swiftly accomplish these things when their time
comes. [ISA 60:19-22]
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has
anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to
heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and
release to the prisoners, To announce a year of favor from the
LORD and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who
mourn; To place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of
ashes, To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a
glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit. They will be called
oaks of justice, planted by the LORD to show his glory. [ISA 61:1-3]
Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who
love her; Exult, exult with her, all you who were mourning over
her! [ISA 66:10]
So gird yourselves with sackcloth, mourn and wail: "The blazing wrath of the LORD is not turned away from us." In that day, says
the LORD, The king will lose heart, and the princes; the priests will be amazed, and the prophets stunned.
[JER 4:8-9]
Because of this the earth shall mourn, the heavens above shall
darken; I have spoken, I will not repent, I have resolved, I will
not turn back. [JER 4:28]
O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes.
Mourn as for an only child with bitter wailing, For sudden upon us
comes the destroyer. [JER 6:26]
How long must the earth mourn, the green of the whole
countryside wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it
beasts and birds disappear, because they say, "God does not
see our ways." [JER 12:4]
Many shepherds have ravaged my vineyard, have trodden my heritage underfoot;
The portion that delighted me they have turned into a desert waste. They have made it a mournful waste, desolate it lies before me,
Desolate, all the land, because no one takes it to heart. [JER
12:10-11]
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: Judah mourns, her gates are lifeless;
Her people sink down in mourning: from Jerusalem ascends a cry of anguish.
[JER 14:1-2]
Go not into a house of mourning, the LORD continued: go not
there to lament or offer sympathy. For I have withdrawn my
friendship from this people, says the LORD, my kindness and my
pity. They shall die, the great and the lowly, in this land, and
shall go unburied and unlamented. No one will gash himself or
shave his head for them. They will not break bread with the
bereaved to console them in their bereavement; they will not give
them the cup of consolation to drink over the death of father or
mother. [JER 16:5-7]
Weep not for him who is dead, mourn not for him! Weep rather
for him who is going away; never again will he see the land of his
birth. Thus says the LORD concerning Shallum, son of Josiah, king
of Judah, who succeeded his father as king. He has left this place
never to return. Rather, he shall die in the place where they
exiled him; this land he shall not see again. [JER 22:10-12]
Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken, my bones
all tremble; I am like a man who is drunk, overcome by wine,
Because of the LORD, because of his holy words. With adulterers
the land is filled; on their account the land mourns, the pasture
ranges are seared. Theirs is an evil course, theirs is unjust
power. [JER 23:9-10]
On that day, those whom the LORD has slain will be strewn from
one end of the earth to the other. None will mourn them, none will
gather them for burial; they shall lie like dung on the field. [JER
25:33]
The LORD shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand
of his conqueror. Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD'S blessings: The grain, the
wine, and the oil, the sheep and the oxen; They themselves shall
be like watered gardens, never again shall they languish. Then the
virgins shall make merry and dance, and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden
them after their sorrows. I will lavish choice portions upon the
priests, and my people shall be filled with my blessings, says the
LORD. [JER 31:11-14]
Thus says the LORD: In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning, of
bitter weeping! Rachel mourns her children, she refuses to be
consoled because her children are no more. Thus says the LORD:
Cease your cries of mourning, wipe the tears from your eyes. The
sorrow you have shown shall have its reward, says the LORD, they
shall return from the enemy's land. There is hope for your future,
says the LORD; your sons shall return to their own borders. [JER
31:15-17]
Near at hand is Moab's ruin, his disaster hastens apace. Mourn for him, all you his neighbors, all you who knew him well!
Say: How the strong staff is broken, the glorious rod! [JER 48:16-17]
On every roof of Moab and in all his squares there is mourning;
I have shattered Moab like a pot that no one wants, says the LORD.
[JER 48:38]
Howl, Heshbon, for the ravager approaches, shriek, daughters of
Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn, run to and fro, gashing
yourselves; For Milcom goes into exile along with his priests and
captains. [JER 49:3]
The roads to Zion mourn for lack of pilgrims going to her
feasts; All her gateways are deserted, her priests groan, Her
virgins sigh; she is in bitter grief. [LAM 1:4]
The old men have abandoned the gate, the young men their music.
The joy of our hearts has ceased, our dance has turned into mourning;
The garlands have fallen from our heads: woe to us, for we have sinned! [LAM
5:14-16]
You forsook the Eternal God who nourished you, and you grieved
Jerusalem who fostered you. She indeed saw coming upon you the
anger of God; and she said: "Hear, you neighbors of Zion! God
has brought great mourning upon me, For I have seen the captivity
that the Eternal God has brought upon my sons and daughters. With
joy I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go.
Let no one gloat over me, a widow, bereft of many: For the sins of
my children I am left desolate, because they turned from the law
of God, and did not acknowledge his statutes; In the ways of God's
commandments they did not walk, nor did they tread the disciplined
paths of his justice." [BARUCH 4:8-13]
What can I do to help you? He who has brought this evil upon
you must himself deliver you from your enemies' hands. Farewell,
my children, farewell: I am left desolate. I have taken off the
garment of peace, have put on sackcloth for my prayer of
supplication, and while I live I will cry out to the Eternal God.
"Fear not, my children; call upon God, who will deliver you
from oppression at enemy hands. I have trusted in the Eternal God
for your welfare, and joy has come to me from the Holy One Because
of the mercy that will swiftly reach you from your eternal savior.
With mourning and lament I sent you forth, but God will give you
back to me with enduring gladness and joy." [BARUCH 4:17-23]
Fear not, Jerusalem! He who gave you your name is your
encouragement. Fearful are those who harmed you, who rejoiced at
your downfall; Fearful are the cities where your children were
enslaved, fearful the city that took your sons. As that city
rejoiced at your collapse, and made merry at your downfall, so
shall she grieve over her own desolation. I will take from her the
joyous throngs, and her exultation shall be turned to mourning:
For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal God, for a long
time, and demons shall dwell in her from that time on. Look to the
east, Jerusalem! behold the joy that comes to you from God. Here
come your sons whom you once let go, gathered in from the east and
from the west By the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory
of God. [BARUCH 4:30-37]
Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on
the splendor of glory from God forever: Wrapped in the cloak of
justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the
glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your
splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice,
the glory of God's worship. [BARUCH 5:1-4]
See, the day of the LORD! See, the end is coming! Lawlessness
is in full bloom, insolence flourishes, violence has risen to
support wickedness. It shall not be long in coming, nor shall it
delay. The time has come, the day dawns. Let not the buyer rejoice
nor the seller mourn, for wrath shall be upon all the throng. [EZEK
7:10-12]
Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, by a sudden
blow I am taking away from you the delight of your eyes, but do
not mourn or weep or shed any tears. Groan in silence, make no
lament for the dead, bind on your turban, put your sandals on your
feet, do not cover your beard, and do not eat the customary bread.
[EZEK 24:15-173]
Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: At the noise of your fall, at
the groaning of the wounded, when the sword slays in your midst,
shall not the isles quake? All the princes of the sea shall step
down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and strip off
their embroidered garments. They shall be clothed in mourning and,
sitting on the ground, they shall tremble at every moment and be
horrified at you. Then they shall utter a lament over you: How
have you perished, gone from the seas, city most prized! Once she
was mighty on the sea, she and her dwellers, Who spread terror
into all that dwelt by the sea. [EZEK 26:15-17]
In their mourning they utter a lament over you; thus they wail
over you: Who was ever destroyed like Tyre in the midst of the
sea? [EZEK 27:32]
In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel, who had been named Belteshazzar. The revelation was
certain: a great war; he understood it from the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, mourned three full weeks.
[DAN 10:1-2]
On the seventh day the king came to mourn for Daniel. As he
came to the den and looked in, there was Daniel, sitting there!
[DAN 14:40]
Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel, for the LORD has
a grievance against the inhabitants of the land: There is no
fidelity, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land. False
swearing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery! in their
lawlessness, bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land
mourns, and everything that dwells in it languishes [Taken from
HOSEA 4:1-3]
Theirs will be like mourners' bread,
that makes unclean all who eat of it; Such food as they have shall
be for themselves; it cannot enter the house of the LORD. [Taken
from HOSEA
9:4]
The inhabitants of Samaria fear for the calf of Beth-aven; The
people mourn for it and its priests wail over it, because the
glory has departed from it. [HOSEA 10:5]
He has laid waste my vine, and blighted my fig tree; He has
stripped it, sheared off its bark; its branches are made white.
Lament like a virgin girt with sackcloth for the spouse of her
youth. Abolished are offering and libation from the house of the
LORD; In mourning are the priests, the ministers of the LORD. The
field is ravaged, the earth mourns, Because the grain is ravaged,
the must has failed, the oil languishes. Be appalled, you
husbandmen! wail, you vinedressers! Over the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished. [JOEL 1:7-11]
Before them the earth trembles, the heavens shake; The sun and
the moon are darkened, and the stars withhold their brightness.
The LORD raises his voice at the head of his army; For immense
indeed is his camp, yes, mighty, and it does his bidding. For
great is the day of the LORD, and exceedingly terrible; who can
bear it? Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole
heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts,
not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious
and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting
in punishment. [JOEL 2:10-13]
Seek good and not evil, that you may live; Then truly will the
LORD, the God of hosts, be with you as you claim! Hate evil and
love good, and let justice prevail at the gate; Then it may be
that the LORD, the God of hosts, will have pity on the remnant of
Joseph. Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord:
In every square there shall be lamentation, and in every street
they shall cry, Alas! Alas! They shall summon the farmers to wail
and professional mourners to lament, And in every vineyard there
shall be lamentation when I pass through your midst, says the
LORD. [AMOS 5:14-17]
The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a
thing they have done! Shall not the land tremble because of this,
and all who dwell in it mourn, While it rises up and tosses like
the Nile, and settles back like the river of Egypt? On that day,
says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun set at midday and cover the
earth with darkness in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts
into mourning and all your songs into lamentations. I will cover
the loins of all with sackcloth and make every head bald. I will
make them mourn as for an only son, and bring their day to a
bitter end. Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will
send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for
water, but for hearing the word of the LORD. [AMOS 8:7-11]
I, the Lord GOD of hosts. I melt the earth with my touch, so
that all who dwell on it mourn, While it all rises up like the
Nile, and settles back like the river of Egypt [Taken from AMOS 9:5]
All her idols shall be broken to pieces, all her wages shall be
burned in the fire, and all her statues I will destroy. As the
wages of a harlot they were gathered, and to the wages of a harlot
shall they return. For this reason I lament and wail, I go
barefoot and naked; I utter lamentation like the jackals, and
mourning like the ostriches. There is no remedy for the blow she
has been struck; rather, it has come even to Judah, It reaches to
the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. [MICAH 1:7-9]
In the fourth year of Darius the king (the word of the LORD
came to Zechariah), on the fourth day of Chislev, the ninth month,
Bethelsarezer sent Regemmelech and his men to implore favor of the
LORD and to ask the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts, and
the prophets, "Must I mourn and abstain in the fifth month as
I have been doing these many years?" Thereupon this word of
the LORD of hosts came to me: Say to all the people of the land
and to the priests: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and
in the seventh month these seventy years, was it really for me
that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, was it not
for yourselves that you ate, and for yourselves that you drank?
Were not these the words which the LORD spoke through the former
prophets, when Jerusalem and the surrounding cities were inhabited
and at peace, when the Negeb and the foothills were inhabited?
(This word of the LORD came to Zechariah: Thus says the LORD of
hosts:) Render true judgment, and show kindness and compassion
toward each other. Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the
alien or the poor; do not plot evil against one another in your
hearts. But they refused to listen; they stubbornly turned their
backs and stopped their ears so as not to hear. And they made
their hearts diamond hard so as not to hear the teaching and the
message that the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit through the
former prophets. Then the LORD of hosts in his great anger said
that, as they had not listened when he called, so he would not
listen when they called, but would scatter them with a whirlwind
among all the nations that they did not know. Thus the land was
left desolate after them with no one traveling to and fro; they
made the pleasant land into a desert. [ZECH 7:1-14]
I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem a spirit of grace and petition; and they shall look on
him whom they have thrust through, and they shall mourn for him as
one mourns for an only son, and they shall grieve over him as one
grieves over a first-born. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem
shall be as great as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of
Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, each family apart: the family
of the house of David, and their wives; the family of the house of
Nathan, and their wives; the family of the house of Levi, and
their wives; the family of Shemei, and their wives; and all the
rest of the families, each family apart, and the wives apart. [ZECH
12:10-14]
[Jesus said,] "Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted."
[Taken from MT
5:4]
Then the disciples of John approached him and said, "Why
do we and the Pharisees fast (much), but your disciples do not
fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests
mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come
when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will
fast." [MT 9:14-15]
"To what shall I compare this generation? It is like
children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 'We
played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge
but you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking,
and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came
eating and drinking and they said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a
drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is
vindicated by her works." [MT 11:16-19]
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the
stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will
be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in
heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will
see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory." [MT 24:29-30]
When he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven
demons. She went and told his companions who were mourning and
weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by
her, they did not believe. [MK 16:9-11]
While he was still speaking, someone from the synagogue
official's house arrived and said, "Your daughter is dead; do
not trouble the teacher any longer." On hearing this, Jesus
answered him, "Do not be afraid; just have faith and she will
be saved." When he arrived at the house he allowed no one to
enter with him except Peter and John and James, and the child's
father and mother. All were weeping and mourning for her, when he
said, "Do not weep any longer, for she is not dead, but
sleeping." And they ridiculed him, because they knew that she
was dead. But he took her by the hand and called to her,
"Child, arise!" Her breath returned and she immediately
arose. He then directed that she should be given something to eat.
Her parents were astounded, and he instructed them to tell no one
what had happened. [LK 8:49-56]
As they led him away they took hold of a certain Simon, a
Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country; and after laying the
cross on him, they made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd
of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and
lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of
Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for
your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will
say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the
breasts that never nursed.' At that time people will say to the
mountains, 'Fall upon us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!' for if
these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when
it is dry?" Now two others, both criminals, were led away
with him to be executed. [LK 23:26-32]
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
"Are you discussing with one another what I said, 'A little
while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you
will see me'? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,
while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will
become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because
her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she
no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has
been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I
will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will
take your joy away from you." [JN 16:19-22]
Have you been thinking all along that we are defending
ourselves before you? In the sight of God we are speaking in
Christ, and all for building you up, beloved. For I fear that when
I come I may find you not such as I wish, and that you may find me
not as you wish; that there may be rivalry, jealousy, fury,
selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that
when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may
have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not
repented of the impurity, immorality, and licentiousness they
practiced. [2COR 12:19-21]
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.
Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned
into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves
before the Lord and he will exalt you. [JMS 4:8-10]
The kings of the earth who had intercourse with her in their
wantonness will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke of
her pyre. They will keep their distance for fear of the torment
inflicted on her, and they will say: "Alas, alas, great city,
Babylon, mighty city. In one hour your judgment has come."
The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn for her, because
there will be no more markets for their cargo: their cargo of
gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple
silk, and scarlet cloth; fragrant wood of every kind, all articles
of ivory and all articles of the most expensive wood, bronze,
iron, and marble; cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and
frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; cattle and
sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human beings.
"The fruit you craved has left you. All your luxury and
splendor are gone, never again will one find them." The
merchants who deal in these goods, who grew rich from her, will
keep their distance for fear of the torment inflicted on her.
Weeping and mourning, they cry out: "Alas, alas, great city,
wearing fine linen, purple and scarlet, adorned (in) gold,
precious stones, and pearls. In one hour this great wealth has
been ruined." Every captain of a ship, every traveler at sea,
sailors, and seafaring merchants stood at a distance and cried out
when they saw the smoke of her pyre, "What city could compare
with the great city?" They threw dust on their heads and
cried out, weeping and mourning: "Alas, alas, great city, in
which all who had ships at sea grew rich from her wealth. In one
hour she has been ruined." [Taken from RV 18:9-19]
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and
the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also
saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud
voice from the throne saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with
the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his
people and God himself will always be with them (as their God). He
will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more
death or mourning, wailing or pain, (for) the old order has passed
away." The one who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I
make all things new." Then he said, "Write these words
down, for they are trustworthy and true." [RV 21:1-5]
Also try:
dead
/ death [D1a]
miscarriage
[M]
widow
- see "Scripture for
Seniors" [Catholic
Seniors section]
despair
[D]
grief
[G10]
sorrow
/ sorrowful [S23]
judgment
[J3a]
console
/ consolation / comfort [C8]
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resources:
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