אָבַל

Genesis 37:34 וַיִּתְאַבֵּ֥ל and he mourned

Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

Here: This verb form describes something a person does to himself. Here: he took on the mourner's role, he went into mourning. The sense is a visible, ongoing state of public grief with its rites (weeping, sitting low, neglecting oneself), not only inner sorrow. YLT's 'becometh a mourner' captures it.

Exodus 33:4 וַיִּתְאַבָּ֑לוּ and they mourned

When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning, and no one put on any of his jewelry.

Numbers 14:39 וַיִּֽתְאַבְּל֥וּ and they mourned

And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly.

1 Samuel 6:19 וַיִּֽתְאַבְּל֣וּ and they mourned

But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.

Here: This form of the verb means visible, acted-out mourning, not just inner sadness: wailing, torn clothes, dust. A day of celebration turns into a funeral.

1 Samuel 15:35 הִתְאַבֵּ֥ל he mourned

And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

1 Samuel 16:1 מִתְאַבֵּ֣ל mourning

Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”

Here: A participle (an '-ing' form) of the reflexive stem of the verb. It means continuing to be in mourning and taking on the mourner's role, often with outward rites. The same verb is used in 15:35.

2 Samuel 13:37 וַיִּתְאַבֵּ֥ל and he mourned

Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day.

2 Samuel 14:2 הִֽתְאַבְּלִי־ מִתְאַבֶּ֖לֶת play [the] mourner, [who has been] mourning

So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.

Here: A reflexive form of 'mourn': 'make yourself a mourner, behave as a mourner'. The same form describes real grief elsewhere, for example David mourning his son in 13:37. Here the context, not the verb, shows it is a performance.

2 Samuel 19:1 וַיִּתְאַבֵּ֖ל and he mourned

Then it was reported to Joab, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.”

1 Chronicles 7:22 וַיִּתְאַבֵּ֛ל and he mourned

Their father Ephraim mourned for many days, and his relatives came to comfort him.

2 Chronicles 35:24 מִֽתְאַבְּלִ֖ים [were] mourning

So his servants took him out of his chariot, put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. And Josiah was buried in the tomb of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

Here: 'Were mourning.' The participle shows continuing action. The verb form means 'to put oneself into mourning': taking on public mourning rites such as torn clothes, sackcloth, dust, fasting and lament, not only feeling sad.

Ezra 10:6 מִתְאַבֵּ֖ל [he was] mourning

Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and walked to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. And while he stayed there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.

Nehemiah 1:4 וָאֶתְאַבְּלָ֖ה and I mourned !

When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Here: This form of the verb (the reflexive stem) means "I took on mourning": he behaved as a mourner, with the customs that went with it, as one would for a death. The extra -ah ending is a feature of late Hebrew style (it shows up often in Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel), not a change in meaning.

Nehemiah 8:9 תִּֽתְאַבְּל֖וּ you mourn

Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the Law.

Here: This form of the verb means to act as a mourner or put on mourning: torn clothes, sackcloth, dust, fasting. It refers to formal mourning practices, not just feeling sad.

Job 14:22 תֶּאֱבָֽל׃ פ it mourns

He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”

Isaiah 3:26 וְאָבְל֖וּ and they will mourn

And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

Here: The ordinary word for formal mourning over the dead: the grief ritual of torn clothes, dust and sitting low. Placed next to ʾānû, which sounds much like it (ʾānû wĕʾāblû), it makes a doubled phrase of grief: 'moan and mourn.'

Isaiah 19:8 וְאָ֣בְל֔וּ and they will mourn

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.

Isaiah 24:4 אָבְלָ֤ה it has dried up

The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.

Isaiah 24:7 אָבַ֥ל it has dried up

The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.

Isaiah 33:9 אָבַ֤ל it has dried up

The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

Here: Perfect tense: 'has gone into mourning', a condition already in place. It stands first, and it is masculine though 'land' is feminine, which is normal when a verb opens the clause. Whether the land 'grieves' or 'dries up' is debated, and the poet may mean both: a land in mourning looks dried out.

Isaiah 66:10 הַמִּֽתְאַבְּלִ֖ים those [who] mourn

Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,

Here: Literally 'those who are carrying themselves as mourners'. This verb form often refers to keeping up the outward rites of mourning: sackcloth, fasting, dirges. It names people who have kept on publicly grieving the city's ruin.

Jeremiah 4:28 תֶּאֱבַ֣ל it will mourn

Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above will grow dark. I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back.”

Here: 'Will mourn.' The land is pictured as a person in mourning. Many scholars also hear the physical picture of land drying up and withering (see Debates).

Jeremiah 12:4 תֶּאֱבַ֣ל will it dry up

How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”

Here: The land “mourns”. In this setting that also means it lies parched and lifeless. Mourners sat in dust, fasted and stopped tending their bodies, and the drought-struck ground looks the same. The supplied gloss “dry up” brings out the physical side. Both sides are present (see studies).

Jeremiah 12:11 אָבְלָ֥ה it is in mourning

They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.

Jeremiah 14:2 אָבְלָ֣ה it is in mourning

“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

Here: Placed first for emphasis: "In mourning is Judah." The feminine verb treats Judah, land and people together, as a woman in mourning. Hebrew mourning was something you did and could be seen doing, not only something you felt. In a drought poem it may also suggest land drying up (see debates).

Jeremiah 23:10 אָבְלָ֣ה it has dried up

For the land is full of adulterers—because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up—their course is evil and their power is misused.

Here: 'The land mourns.' Placed next to 'dried up,' the mourning shows on the ground itself: the land looks like a mourner, brown and stripped. Some scholars read a second verb here meaning 'be dry.'

Lamentations 2:8 וַיַּֽאֲבֶל־ and he has caused to mourn

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.

Here: "And he made [them] mourn." The stones are pictured as mourners. The same verb is used for the land "mourning" in drought, so it may also carry a sense of drying up and wilting.

Ezekiel 7:12 יִתְאַבָּ֑ל he mourn

The time has come; the day has arrived. Let the buyer not rejoice and the seller not mourn, for wrath is upon the whole multitude.

Ezekiel 7:27 יִתְאַבָּ֗ל he will mourn

The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and I will judge them by their own standards. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

Ezekiel 31:15 הֶאֱבַ֜לְתִּי I caused mourning

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.

Daniel 10:2 מִתְאַבֵּ֔ל mourning

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.

Hosea 4:3 תֶּאֱבַ֣ל it will dry up

Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.

Here: The land 'mourns'. It goes into the visible state of a mourner: parched, dusty, stripped, silent. Many scholars think the word also carries, or here means, 'dries up'. The verb form can mean 'is mourning' now or 'will mourn'.

Hosea 10:5 אָבַ֨ל it will mourn

The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn over it with its idolatrous priests—those who rejoiced in its glory—for it has been taken from them into exile.

Here: Formal mourning, the kind done for the dead. A Hebrew perfect, presenting the future disaster as if it has already happened: the funeral for the god has begun.

Joel 1:9 אָֽבְלוּ֙ they are in mourning

Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.

Joel 1:10 אָבְלָ֖ה it is dried up

The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.

Here: 'Mourns', the verb used of people in funeral grief. The ground is pictured as a mourner in the same posture as the priests of v. 9 ('the priests mourn', same verb). Some scholars read a second verb 'to dry up' here (see debates), which is why the supplied gloss says 'dried up'.

Amos 1:2 וְאָֽבְלוּ֙ and they will dry up

He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and raises His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”

Here: The usual sense is 'mourn': grieving with visible signs such as dust, torn clothes and fasting. Next to 'wither' it also suggests drying up. The pastures are pictured as mourners, and they are also literally parched. The verb form shows a consequence: when Yahweh roars, the land goes into mourning.

Amos 8:8 וְאָבַ֖ל and he will mourn

Will not the land quake for this, and all its dwellers mourn? All of it will swell like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.

Here: "And [everyone] will mourn." This means mourning as people actually did it: wailing, sackcloth, dust, lament. Elsewhere the same root is used of land that "mourns" by drying up (Amos 1:2).

Amos 9:5 וְאָבְל֖וּ and they mourn

The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt—

Here: Public mourning: lament, torn clothes, sackcloth, grief over death and ruin. People respond to the shaking of their world with funeral grief.