'Tears' in the Bible

Of Gad he said,“Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad;He lurks like a lioness,And tears the arm and the crown of the head.

“Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father (ancestor): “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I am healing you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.

Then Esther spoke again to the king and fell down at his feet and wept and implored him to avert the evil plot of Haman the Agagite and his plan which he had devised against the Jews [because the decree to annihilate the Jews was still in effect].

“Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

“My friends are scoffers [who ridicule];My eye pours out tears to God.

“For if my land has cried out against me,And its furrows weep together;

I am weary with my groaning;Every night I soak my bed with tears,I drench my couch with my weeping.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and listen to my cry;Do not be silent at my tears;For I am Your temporary guest,A sojourner like all my fathers.

My tears have been my food day and night,While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

You have taken account of my wanderings;Put my tears in Your bottle.Are they not recorded in Your book?

You have fed them the bread of tears,And You have made them drink [bitter] tears in abundance.

For You have rescued my life from death,My eyes from tears,And my feet from stumbling and falling.

They who sow in tears shall reap with joyful singing.

The wise woman builds her house [on a foundation of godly precepts, and her household thrives],But the foolish one [who lacks spiritual insight] tears it down with her own hands [by ignoring godly principles].

The Lord will tear down the house of the proud and arrogant (self-righteous),But He will establish and protect the boundaries [of the land] of the [godly] widow.

Then I looked again and considered all the acts of oppression that were being practiced under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.

before the sun and the light, and the moon and the stars are darkened [by impaired vision], and the clouds [of depression] return after the rain [of tears];

Therefore I (Isaiah) will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vines of Sibmah.I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh;For the war-cry [of the enemy] has fallen on your summer fruits and your harvest.

He will swallow up death [and abolish it] for all time.And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,And He will take away the disgrace of His people from all the earth;For the Lord has spoken.

“Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘For the Lord, the God of David your father says this, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; listen carefully, I will add fifteen years to your life.

Oh that my head were watersAnd my eyes a fountain of tears,That I might weep day and nightFor the slain of the daughter of my people!

“Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us,That our eyes may shed tearsAnd our eyelids flow with water.

But if you will not listen and obey,My soul will weep in secret for your pride;My eyes will weep bitterlyAnd flow with tears,Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

“Therefore [Jeremiah] you will say this word to them,‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,And let them never cease;For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a great blow,With a very serious and severely infected wound.

Thus says the Lord,“Restrain your voice from weepingAnd your eyes from tears,For your work will be rewarded,” says the Lord;“And your children will return from the enemy’s land.

She weeps bitterly in the nightAnd her tears are [constantly] on her cheeks;Among all her lovers (political allies)She has no one to comfort her.All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;They have become her enemies.

“I weep for these things;My eyes overflow with tears,Because a comforter,One who could restore my soul, is far away from me.My children are desolate and perishing,For the enemy has prevailed.”

Their hearts cried out to the Lord.“O wall of the Daughter of Zion,Let your tears run down like a river day and night;Give yourself no relief,Let your eyes have no rest.

My eyes overflow with streams of tearsBecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people (Jerusalem).

“Son of man, listen carefully, I am about to take away from you the desire of your eyes [your wife] with a single stroke. Yet you shall not mourn and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not flow.

The remnant of JacobShall be among the nations,In the midst of many peoplesLike a lion among the beasts of the forest,Like a young lion [suddenly appearing] among the flocks of sheepWhich, if he passes through,Tramples down and tears into pieces [the nations in judgment],And there is no one to rescue.

This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with [your own] weeping and sighing, because the Lord no longer regards your offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

But no one puts a piece of unshrunk (new) cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk (new) cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse.

Immediately the father of the boy cried out [with a desperate, piercing cry], saying, “I do believe; help [me overcome] my unbelief.”

and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began wetting His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and [respectfully] kissed His feet [as an act signifying both affection and submission] and anointed them with the perfume.

Then turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house [but you failed to extend to Me the usual courtesies shown to a guest]; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair [demonstrating her love].

serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came on me because of the plots of the Jews [against me];

Therefore be continually alert, remembering that for three years, night or day, I did not stop admonishing and advising each one [of you] with tears.

For I wrote to you out of great distress and with an anguished heart, and with many tears, not to cause you sorrow but to make you realize the [overflowing] love which I have especially for you.

For there are many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, who live as enemies of the cross of Christ [rejecting and opposing His way of salvation],

and as I recall your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.

In the days of His earthly life, Jesus offered up both [specific] petitions and [urgent] supplications [for that which He needed] with fervent crying and tears to the One who was [always] able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission toward God [His sinlessness and His unfailing determination to do the Father’s will].

For you know that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance [there was no way to repair what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], even though he sought for it with [bitter] tears.

To the degree that she glorified herself and reveled and gloated in her sensuality [living deliciously and luxuriously], to that same degree impose on her torment and anguish, and mourning and grief; for in her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as a queen [on a throne] and I am not a widow, and will never, ever see mourning or experience grief.’