Hebrew word · H57

אָבֵל

'avel

mourning

Mourning; as a noun, a mourner, someone in formal grief (for the dead, for a disaster, for Zion's ruin).

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 23, 2026

What it means

1) mourning

1a) for the dead

1b) because of calamity

1c) of rites of mourning

2) mourner (subst.)

2a) for the dead

2b) for calamity

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Mourning; as a noun, a mourner, someone in formal grief (for the dead, for a disaster, for Zion's ruin).
Against the English: 'Mourners' is accurate. The question is who they are (see Debates). The NIV-style 'Israel's mourners' settles an ambiguity the Hebrew leaves open.
Used elsewhere in the period: Isaiah 61:2–3 ('to comfort all who mourn… the mourners of Zion'); Isaiah 66:10 ('all who mourn over her'); Lamentations 1:4 ('the roads of Zion mourn'). In later Jewish usage 'mourners of Zion' became a name for groups who grieved over Jerusalem's ruin.

Range of meaning: Mourning (adjective), and as a noun a mourner: someone formally observing grief for a death, a disaster, or the ruin of a city or temple. Mourning was public and ritual: torn clothes, sackcloth, dust or ashes on the head, fasting, no anointing with oil, lament songs.
Against the English: "All who mourn" (BSB, ESV, NIV), "all that mourn" (KJV), "all mourners" (YLT). These are accurate. A modern reader may picture private sadness, but these are people visibly in mourning, which is why verse 3 can swap ashes for a headdress and mourning for oil.
Used elsewhere in the period: Isaiah 57:18 ("I will restore comfort to him and to his mourners"); 66:10 ("rejoice with Jerusalem, all you who mourn over her"); Lamentations 1:4 ("the roads of Zion mourn"). Zechariah 7:3–5 and 8:19 mention regular fasts after the exile that remembered Jerusalem's fall.

Range of meaning: An adjective meaning mourning, in mourning. It describes someone in the recognised condition of grief for the dead: torn clothes, sackcloth, dust, fasting, lament. The related verb is used in v. 34 (wayyitʾabbēl, “he mourned”) and the noun is ʾēvel, “mourning.”
Against the English: English “mourning” can mean simply feeling sad. In Hebrew it is a public, recognisable status marked by dress and behaviour.
Used elsewhere in the period: Gen 50:10–11 describes a formal seven-day mourning (ʾēvel) for Jacob himself. Deut 34:8 says “the days of mourning” for Moses ended after thirty days. Compare 2 Sam 14:2.

Genesis · 1

Genesis 37:35 אָבֵ֖ל mourning

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.

Here: “Mourning,” describing the state Jacob will be in when he goes down. Mourning was a formal state with its own dress and customs (torn clothes and sackcloth, v. 34). Families normally ended it after a set time. Jacob says he will stay in it until he dies.

Esther · 1

Esther 6:12 אָבֵ֖ל mourning

Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.

Job · 1

Job 29:25 אֲבֵלִ֣ים mourners

I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.

Psalms · 1

Psalm 35:14 כַּאֲבֶל־ like a mourner of

I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.

Isaiah · 3

Isaiah 57:18 וְלַאֲבֵלָֽיו׃ and to mourners his

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,

Here: 'And to his mourners.' These are the people who grieve within or over the stricken community, most likely the faithful who mourn Zion's ruin (compare Isaiah 61:2–3; 66:10). The comfort reaches them as well as the guilty nation.
Isaiah 61:2 אֲבֵלִֽים׃ mourners

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn,

Here: People who are visibly in mourning: ashes on the head, sackcloth, fasting, lament. Here they are grieving the ruin of Zion (verse 3; 57:18; 66:10). Verse 3 reverses their rites one by one: headdress for ashes, oil for mourning, a garment of praise for a fainting spirit.
Isaiah 61:3 לַאֲבֵלֵ֣י to [the] mourners of

to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Here: 'For the mourners of'. These are people who are visibly in mourning: ashes, torn or rough clothing, no oil. The word picks up 'to comfort all who mourn' in v. 2.

Lamentations · 1

Lamentations 1:4 אֲבֵל֗וֹת [are] mourning

The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.

Here: "In mourning." The word names the formal state of a mourner: dust, torn clothes, sitting in silence. The roads are pictured as mourners because nobody walks on them.

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