Word study
Lament
5 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: lament, lamented, laments. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “lament” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- קִינָה qînâhelegy, dirgetranslated this way 11 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H7015Noun · Translated: lament 9, lamentation 3Full study and all 15 verses →
2 Samuel 1:17 Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan,
2 Chronicles 35:25 Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.
- סָפַד sâphadwail, lamenttranslated this way 5 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H5594Verb · Translated: mourn 15, mourned 8, lament 3, lamented 2Full study and all 29 verses →
Genesis 50:10 When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.
1 Kings 13:30 Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, “Oh, my brother!”
- קוּן qûnstrike a musical note, chant, wailtranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H6969Verb · Translated: chant 2Full study and all 6 verses →
2 Samuel 3:33 And the king sang this lament for Abner: “Should Abner die the death of a fool?
2 Chronicles 35:25 Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.
- הָמָה hâmâhmurmur, growl, roar, be boisteroustranslated this way 3 times of its 33 uses · Strong’s H1993Verb · Translated: roar 6, unease 3, rage 3, laments 3Full study and all 31 verses →
Isaiah 16:11 Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
Jeremiah 48:36 Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.
- אָבַל âbalmourntranslated this way 2 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H56Verb · Translated: mourn 11, mourns 8, mourned 7, mourning 4Full study and all 38 verses →
Isaiah 19:8 Then the fishermen will mourn, all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.
Lamentations 2:8 The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.