Greek word · G3996

πενθέω

pentheō

to mourn

To mourn or lament: above all the public, audible grief for the dead (with weeping, wailing, torn garments, sackcloth, fasting), and by extension grief over a disaster, a ruined city, or sin and its consequences. It names visible grief that others can see, not only a private mood.

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

πενθέω, -ῶ

[in LXX chiefly for אָבַל ;]

to mourn (for), lament;

(a) intrans. : Matthew 5:4 (5) Matthew 9:15, 1 Corinthians 5:2; π. καὶ κλαίειν, Matthew 16:10, Luke 6:25, James 4:9, Revelation 18:15, 19; before ἐπί, with accusative, Revelation 18:11;

(b) trans., with accusative, 2 Corinthians 12:21.†

SYN.: see: θρηνέω (AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Matthew 5:4

Range of meaning

To mourn or lament: above all the public, audible grief for the dead (with weeping, wailing, torn garments, sackcloth, fasting), and by extension grief over a disaster, a ruined city, or sin and its consequences. It names visible grief that others can see, not only a private mood. In the Septuagint it most often translates Hebrew ʾābal ('to mourn').

Against the English

'Mourn' is an accurate English equivalent. The risk is narrowing: in some church usage 'mourn' here is quietly taken to mean only 'feel contrite about one's own sins.' The Greek word is much broader and more concrete than that.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Gen 37:34 (Jacob mourning Joseph); 2 Sam 19:1 (David over Absalom); Neh 1:4 and Ezra 10:6 (mourning over Jerusalem's ruin and the people's unfaithfulness); Isa 61:2–3 ('to comfort all who mourn… the mourners of Zion'). In the NT: Matt 9:15 (wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them, paired with fasting); 1 Cor 5:2 and Jas 4:9 (mourning over sin); Rev 18:11, 15, 19 (merchants mourning Babylon's fall). Luke's parallel uses klaiō 'weep' (Luke 6:21) and threatens the comfortable with pentheō (6:25).

From the study of Matthew 9:15

Range of meaning

To mourn or grieve, usually outwardly and audibly: lamenting the dead, grieving disaster or sin. In the LXX it often stands for Hebrew 'abal (to mourn, as for the dead).

Against the English

English 'mourn' is accurate. What matters is the choice: Mark 2:19 and Luke 5:34 have 'fast' here, and Matthew puts 'mourn'.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Gen 37:34 (Jacob mourning Joseph); 2 Sam 19:1; Isa 61:2–3 ('to comfort all who mourn… oil of gladness instead of mourning'). Matt 5:4: 'Blessed are those who mourn (penthountes), for they will be comforted.'

From the study of 2 Corinthians 12:21

Range of meaning

To mourn or lament, especially for the dead. It means visible, public mourning (weeping, lamentation, mourning customs) more than private sorrow. It can also mean mourning over sin or disaster.

Against the English

BSB says 'be grieved'. Other versions say 'mourn' or 'bewail' (KJV, YLT). 'Grieved' can sound like mild disappointment, and 'mourn' or 'bewail' keep more of the funeral tone. Note also that the verb takes the people as its direct object: Paul would mourn them, not merely feel sad about what they did.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the LXX it is used for mourning the dead (Gen 23:2; 37:34) and for lament over sin (Ezra 10:6; Neh 1:4). In 1 Cor 5:2 Paul tells the Corinthians they should have 'mourned' (ἐπενθήσατε) over the man living with his father's wife, and the next words are 'so that he might be removed from among you'. In the Beatitudes it appears as 'blessed are those who mourn' (Matt 5:4).

Similar words

Where it appears

Matthew · 2

  1. Matthew 5:4 πενθοῦντες, mourning,

    Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

    Here: The ordinary word for grieving the dead and for outward lament. The present tense pictures people in the middle of grief, mourning now. It echoes Isaiah 61:2, 'to comfort all who mourn.'

  2. Matthew 9:15 πενθεῖν [are] to mourn

    Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

    Here: Grief shown openly, especially for the dead. Matthew uses it where Mark and Luke say 'fast', which makes clear that fasting here is a mourning practice and the opposite of wedding joy.

Luke · 1

  1. Luke 6:25 πενθήσετε you will mourn

    Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

    Here: Future: "you will mourn". The word for formal, public grief over a death or disaster: torn clothes, dirges, sitting in ashes. Their laughter will turn into a funeral.

1 Corinthians · 1

  1. 1 Corinthians 5:2 ἐπενθήσατε mourned

    And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief and have removed from your fellowship the man who did this?

2 Corinthians · 1

  1. 2 Corinthians 12:21 πενθήσω I may mourn over

    I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

    Here: 'I may have to mourn'. This is the vocabulary of mourning the dead, open lament rather than private sadness. Here it takes a direct object: Paul would mourn the people themselves.

James · 1

  1. James 4:9 πενθήσατε do mourn

    Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

    Here: Mourn the way people mourned the dead, with grief that showed. Here it is grief over sin and over the damage done to the relationship with God.

Revelation · 3

  1. Revelation 18:11 πενθοῦσιν they mourn

    And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo—

    Here: Formal mourning as for the dead: lamenting, the outward signs of bereavement. With 'weep', the pair means they grieve as if a funeral were under way.

  2. Revelation 18:15 πενθοῦντες, mourning,

    The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand at a distance, in fear of her torment. They will weep and mourn,

    Here: Formal mourning of the kind done for the dead. Verse 19 shows what it looked like: dust thrown on heads and a spoken lament. It leads straight into the "Woe, woe" speech of 18:16.

  3. Revelation 18:19 πενθοῦντες mourning

    Then they will throw dust on their heads as they weep and mourn and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, where all who had ships on the sea were enriched by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been destroyed.”

    Here: Mourning as one mourns the dead. The pair "weeping and mourning" is also used of the merchants (v. 15) and recalls Babylon's boast that she would "never see mourning" (v. 7).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.