Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.(A)

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Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.(A)

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10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation(A) and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern,(B) what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

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13 Even in laughter(A) the heart may ache,
    and rejoicing may end in grief.

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25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.(A)
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.(B)

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Warning to Rich Oppressors

Now listen,(A) you rich people,(B) weep and wail(C) because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.(D)

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67 Before I was afflicted(A) I went astray,(B)
    but now I obey your word.(C)

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63 Then, when I make atonement(A) for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed(B) and never again open your mouth(C) because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord.(D)’”

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18 “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:
    ‘You disciplined(A) me like an unruly calf,(B)
    and I have been disciplined.
Restore(C) me, and I will return,
    because you are the Lord my God.
19 After I strayed,(D)
    I repented;
after I came to understand,
    I beat(E) my breast.
I was ashamed(F) and humiliated
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’(G)
20 Is not Ephraim my dear son,
    the child(H) in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him,
    I still remember(I) him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
    I have great compassion(J) for him,”
declares the Lord.

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It is better to go to a house of mourning
    than to go to a house of feasting,
for death(A) is the destiny(B) of everyone;
    the living should take this to heart.
Frustration is better than laughter,(C)
    because a sad face is good for the heart.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.(D)
It is better to heed the rebuke(E) of a wise person
    than to listen to the song of fools.
Like the crackling of thorns(F) under the pot,
    so is the laughter(G) of fools.
    This too is meaningless.

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Give her as much torment and grief
    as the glory and luxury she gave herself.(A)
In her heart she boasts,
    ‘I sit enthroned as queen.
I am not a widow;[a]
    I will never mourn.’(B)
Therefore in one day(C) her plagues will overtake her:
    death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,(D)
    for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

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Footnotes

  1. Revelation 18:7 See Isaiah 47:7,8.

16 The fugitives(A) who escape
    will flee to the mountains.
Like doves(B) of the valleys,
    they will all moan,
    each for their own sins.(C)

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25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things,(A) but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.(B)

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Mourning for the One They Pierced

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[a](A) of grace and supplication.(B) They will look on[b] me, the one they have pierced,(C) and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,(D) and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.(E) 11 On that day the weeping(F) in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.(G) 12 The land will mourn,(H) each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 12:10 Or the Spirit
  2. Zechariah 12:10 Or to

They will come with weeping;(A)
    they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead(B) them beside streams of water(C)
    on a level(D) path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,(E)
    and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

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12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day(A)
to weep(B) and to wail,
    to tear out your hair(C) and put on sackcloth.(D)
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,(E)
    slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
    eating of meat and drinking of wine!(F)
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
    “for tomorrow we die!”(G)

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Those who sow with tears(A)
    will reap(B) with songs of joy.(C)
Those who go out weeping,(D)
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them.

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31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,(A)
    and my pipe(B) to the sound of wailing.

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21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.(A)
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.(B)

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15 Joy is gone from our hearts;
    our dancing has turned to mourning.(A)

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13 Then young women will dance and be glad,
    young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning(A) into gladness;
    I will give them comfort(B) and joy(C) instead of sorrow.

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“Laughter,”(A) I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”

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71 It was good for me to be afflicted(A)
    so that I might learn your decrees.

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