He said, “You may go.” He permitted her to leave ¹  for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity as she walked through the hills. ² 

May the Lord enable each of you to find ¹  security ²  in the home of a new husband!” ³  Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept loudly. ⁴ 

Again they wept loudly. ¹  Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, ²  but Ruth ³  clung tightly to her. ⁴ 

You will see trouble in my dwelling place! ¹  Israel will experience blessings, ²  but there will not be an old man in your ³  house for all time. ⁴ 

It was quite a long time – some twenty years in all – that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people ¹  of Israel longed for ²  the Lord.

When David finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Then Saul wept loudly. ¹ 

Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David left and went down to the desert of Paran. ¹ 

I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan! You were very dear to me. Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

So they buried Abner in Hebron. The king cried loudly ¹  over Abner’s grave and all the people wept too.

He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ¹  ‘Perhaps ²  the Lord will show pity and the child will live.

The king covered his face and cried out loudly, ¹  “My son, Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”

The old prophet ¹  picked up the corpse of the prophet, ²  put it on the donkey, and brought it back. The old prophet then entered the city to mourn him and to bury him.

He put the corpse into his own tomb, and they ¹  mourned over him, saying, “Ah, my brother!”

All Israel buried him and mourned for him, just as the Lord had predicted ¹  through his servant the prophet Ahijah.

When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, ¹  crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

“Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ¹  because of the painful cries ²  of the needy, I will spring into action,” ³  says the Lord. “I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ⁴ 

For my life nears its end in pain; my years draw to a close as I groan. ¹  My strength fails me because of ²  my sin, and my bones become brittle. ³ 

I mourned for them as I would for a friend or my brother. ¹  I bowed down ²  in sorrow as if I were mourning for my mother. ³ 

I cannot eat, I weep day and night; ¹  all day long they say to me, ²  “Where is your God?”

I am exhausted from shouting for help; my throat is sore; ¹  my eyes grow tired of looking for my God. ²