James 4:9

4:9 Grieve, mourn, ¹  and weep. Turn your laughter ²  into mourning and your joy into despair.

Isaiah 13:6

13:6 Wail, for the Lord’s day of judgment ³  is near;

it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. ⁴ 

Isaiah 22:12-13

22:12 At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,

for shaved heads and sackcloth. ⁵ 

22:13 But look, there is outright celebration! ⁶ 

You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,

eat meat and drink wine.

Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” ⁷ 

Jeremiah 4:8

4:8 So put on sackcloth!

Mourn and wail, saying,

‘The fierce anger of the Lord

has not turned away from us!’” ⁸ 

Ezekiel 19:2

19:2 and say:

“‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions!

She lay among young lions; ⁹  she reared her cubs.

Joel 1:5

1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, ¹⁰  and weep!

Wail, all you wine drinkers, ¹¹ 

because the sweet wine ¹²  has been taken away ¹³  from you. ¹⁴ 

Joel 1:11

1:11 Be distressed, ¹⁵  farmers;

wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley.

For the harvest of the field has perished.

Joel 1:13

1:13 Get dressed ¹⁶  and lament, you priests!

Wail, you who minister at the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,

because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of your God anymore. ¹⁷ 

Amos 6:6-7

6:6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, ¹⁸ 

and pour the very best oils on themselves. ¹⁹ 

Yet they are not concerned over ²⁰  the ruin ²¹  of Joseph.

6:7 Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile, ²² 

and the religious banquets ²³  where they sprawl on couches ²⁴  will end.

Zechariah 11:2-3

11:2 Howl, fir tree,

because the cedar has fallen;

the majestic trees have been destroyed.

Howl, oaks of Bashan,

because the impenetrable forest has fallen.

11:3 Listen to the howling of shepherds,

because their magnificence has been destroyed.

Listen to the roaring of young lions,

because the thickets of the Jordan have been devastated.

Luke 6:25

6:25 “Woe to you who are well satisfied with food ²⁵  now, for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you ²⁶  who laugh ²⁷  now, for you will mourn and weep.

Luke 23:28-29

23:28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, ²⁸  do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves ²⁹  and for your children. 23:29 For this is certain: ³⁰  The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’ ³¹ 

[4:9]  ¹ tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[4:9]  ² tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”

[13:6]  ³ tn Heb “the day of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB).

[13:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “like destruction from the sovereign judge it comes.” The comparative preposition (כְּ, kÿ) has here the rhetorical nuance, “in every way like.” The point is that the destruction unleashed will have all the earmarks of divine judgment. One could paraphrase, “it comes as only destructive divine judgment can.” On this use of the preposition in general, see GKC 376 §118.x.

[22:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.” See the note at 15:2.

[22:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “happiness and joy.”

[22:13]  ⁷ tn The prophet here quotes what the fatalistic people are saying. The introductory “you say” is supplied in the translation for clarification; the concluding verb “we die” makes it clear the people are speaking. The six verbs translated as imperatives are actually infinitives absolute, functioning here as finite verbs.

[4:8]  ⁸ tn Or “wail because the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.” The translation does not need to assume a shift in speaker as the alternate reading does.

[19:2]  ⁹ sn Lions probably refer to Judahite royalty and/or nobility. The lioness appears to symbolize the Davidic dynasty, though some see the referent as Hamutal, the wife of Josiah and mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. Gen 49:9 seems to be the background for Judah being compared to lions.

[1:5]  ¹⁰ sn The word drunkards has a double edge here. Those accustomed to drinking too much must now lament the unavailability of wine. It also may hint that the people in general have become religiously inebriated and are unresponsive to the Lord. They are, as it were, drunkards from a spiritual standpoint.

[1:5]  ¹¹ sn Joel addresses the first of three groups particularly affected by the locust plague. In v. 5 he describes the effects on the drunkards, who no longer have a ready supply of intoxicating wine; in vv. 11-12 he describes the effects on the farmers, who have watched their labors come to naught because of the insect infestation; and in vv. 13-14 he describes the effects on the priests, who are no longer able to offer grain sacrifices and libations in the temple.

[1:5]  ¹² tn Heb “over the sweet wine, because it.” Cf. KJV, NIV, TEV, NLT “new wine.”

[1:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV); NAB “will be withheld.”

[1:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your mouth.” This is a synecdoche of part (the mouth) for whole (the person).

[1:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “embarrassed”; or “be ashamed.”

[1:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.”

[6:6]  ¹⁸ sn Perhaps some religious rite is in view, or the size of the bowls is emphasized (i.e., bowls as large as sacrificial bowls).

[6:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “with the best of oils they anoint [themselves].”

[6:6]  ²⁰ tn Or “not sickened by.”

[6:6]  ²¹ sn The ruin of Joseph may refer to the societal disintegration in Israel, or to the effects of the impending judgment.

[6:7]  ²² tn Heb “they will go into exile at the head of the exiles.”

[6:7]  ²³ sn Religious banquets. This refers to the מַרְזֵחַ (marzeakh), a type of pagan religious banquet popular among the upper class of Israel at this time and apparently associated with mourning. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 137-61; J. L. McLaughlin, The “Marzeah” in the Prophetic Literature (VTSup). Scholars debate whether at this banquet the dead were simply remembered or actually venerated in a formal, cultic sense.

[6:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “of the sprawled out.” See v. 4.

[6:25]  ²⁵ tn Grk “who are filled.” See L&N 23.18 for the translation “well satisfied with food.”

[6:25]  ²⁶ tc The wording “to you” (ὑμῖν, Jumin) is lacking in several witnesses (א B K L T W Θ Ξ 0147 Ë^1,13 579 700 892 1241 2542 al), though found in most (Ì⁷⁵ A D Q Ψ 33 Ï lat co). The longer reading looks to be a clarifying addition; nevertheless, “to you” is included in the translation because of English requirements.

[6:25]  ²⁷ sn That is, laugh with happiness and joy.

[23:28]  ²⁸ sn The title Daughters of Jerusalem portrays these women mourning as representatives of the nation.

[23:28]  ²⁹ sn Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves. Judgment now comes on the nation (see Luke 19:41-44) for this judgment of Jesus. Ironically, they mourn the wrong person – they should be mourning for themselves.

[23:29]  ³⁰ tn Grk “For behold.”

[23:29]  ³¹ tn Grk “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts that have not nursed!”