I am exhausted as I groan; all night long I drench my bed in tears; ¹  my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. ² 

I said, ¹  “I will weep and mourn ²  for the grasslands on the mountains, ³  I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness because they are so scorched no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard there. Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields have fled and are gone.”

Finally her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and not eat? Why are you so sad? ¹  Am I not better to you than ten ²  sons?”

“I will pour out on the kingship ¹  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ²  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ³ 

(Deborah, ¹  Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named ²  Oak of Weeping.) ³ 

Elisha ¹  just stared at him until Hazael became uncomfortable. ²  Then the prophet started crying.

My intercessor is my friend ¹  as my eyes pour out ²  tears to God;

I collapse ¹  from grief. Sustain me by your word! ² 

So put on sackcloth! Mourn and wail, saying, ‘The fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us!’” ¹ 

כ (Kaf) My eyes are worn out ¹  from weeping; ²  my stomach is in knots. ³  My heart ⁴  is poured out on the ground due to the destruction ⁵  of my helpless people; ⁶  children and infants faint in the town squares.

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, ¹  ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ²  we wailed in mourning, ³  yet you did not weep.’

¹ Then all the community raised a loud cry, ²  and the people wept ³  that night.

Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.”

When the days of mourning ¹  had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s royal court, ²  “If I have found favor in your sight, please say to Pharaoh, ³ 

So the people came to Bethel ¹  and sat there before God until evening, weeping loudly and uncontrollably. ² 

All the land was weeping loudly ¹  as all these people were leaving. ²  As the king was crossing over the Kidron Valley, all the people were leaving ³  on the road that leads to the desert.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Because she ¹  thought he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.”

So Peter got up and went with them, and ¹  when he arrived ²  they brought him to the upper room. All ³  the widows stood beside him, crying and showing him ⁴  the tunics ⁵  and other clothing ⁶  Dorcas used to make ⁷  while she was with them.

She then said to her father, “Please grant me this one wish. ¹  For two months allow me to walk through the hills with my friends and mourn my virginity.” ² 

Because of Israel’s sins ¹  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ²  says: “In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ³  They will tell the field workers ⁴  to lament and the professional mourners ⁵  to wail.