Word study
Mourn
9 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: mourn, mourning, mourned, mourns. 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 “mourn” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אָבַל âbalmourntranslated this way 35 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H56Verb · Translated: mourn 11, mourns 8, mourned 7, mourning 4Full study and all 38 verses →
Genesis 37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
Exodus 33:4 When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning, and no one put on any of his jewelry.
- סָפַד sâphadwail, lamenttranslated this way 23 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H5594Verb · Translated: mourn 15, mourned 8, lament 3, lamented 2Full study and all 29 verses →
Genesis 23:2 She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.
1 Samuel 25:1 When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
- אֵבֶל êbelmourningtranslated this way 21 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H60Noun · Translated: mourning 14, mourn 5, ceremony of mourning 1, and when the 1Full study and all 21 verses →
Genesis 27:41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 34:8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
- בָּכָה bâkâhweep, bewailtranslated this way 6 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H1058Verb · Translated: wept 44, weep 22, weeping 21, mourned 4Full study and all 100 verses →
Genesis 50:3 taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
Leviticus 10:6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole congregation. But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn on account of the fire that the LORD has ignited.
- מִסְפֵּד mispêdwailingtranslated this way 6 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H4553Noun · Translated: wailing 6, mourning 5, wailed 1, lamented 1Full study and all 13 verses →
Psalm 30:11 You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
Jeremiah 48:38 On all the rooftops of Moab and in the public squares, everyone is mourning; for I have shattered Moab like an unwanted jar,” declares the LORD.
- אָבֵל âbêlmourningtranslated this way 4 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H57Adjective · Translated: mourners 3, mourn 2, mourning 1, grief 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Genesis 37:35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No, ” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
Psalm 35:14 I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.
- קָדַר qâdarbe darktranslated this way 3 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H6937Verb · Translated: grow dark 3, sorrow 2, mourn 2, darken 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Psalm 38:6 I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
Jeremiah 8:21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.
- נוּד nûdmove to and fro, wander, flutter, shew grieftranslated this way 3 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H5110Verb · Translated: Flee 3, wanderer 2, grieve 2, mourn 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Jeremiah 15:5 Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
Jeremiah 22:10 Do not weep for him who is dead; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for him who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.
- תַּאֲנִיָּה taănîâhlamentationtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H8386Noun · Translated: mourning 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Isaiah 29:2 And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.
Lamentations 2:5 The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πενθέω penthéōI mourn, lamenttranslated this way 8 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G3996Verb · Translated: mourn 7, mourning 1, stricken with grief 1, grieved 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Mark 16:10 She went and told those who had been with Him, who were mourning and weeping.
- κόπτω kóptōI cut off, mourntranslated this way 5 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G2875Verb · Translated: mourn 3, cut 2, mourning 1, kept mourning 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Matthew 11:17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
Luke 8:52 Meanwhile, everyone was weeping and mourning for her. But Jesus said, “Stop weeping; she is not dead but asleep.”
- ὀδυρμός odyrmóslamentation, wailingtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3602Noun · Translated: mourning 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 2:18 “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
2 Corinthians 7:7 and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing, your mourning, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced all the more.
- πένθος pénthosmourning, sorrowtranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G3997Noun · Translated: grief 3, mourning 2Full study and all 4 verses →
James 4:9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
Revelation 21:4 ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed 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.