God comes close in grief, and grieving with hope is not a lack of faith: “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted.” In Psalm 34:18, the Hebrew word is shavar (H7665): to break, to burst, to shatter. It is used for breaking pots and bones, and here for a broken heart.
Get DeepWordWhat the original says
Behind the word “brokenhearted” in this verse is the Hebrew word shavar (said shah-VAR).
It means to break, to burst, to shatter. It is used for breaking pots and bones, and here for a broken heart.
This form, lenishberei, is ‘to’ (לְ) joined to a form that describes people: ‘the broken ones of’, tied to the next word, ‘heart’. Word for word, ‘to the broken of heart’. It is a form for something that happened to them: they were broken.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘broken’ 34 times and ‘shatter’ 33 times, counting their other forms. It is the word in “a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17):
Word by word
| קָרוֹב | יְהוָה | לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי | לֵב | וְאֶת | דַּכְּאֵי | רוּחַ |
| near | The LORD | to · broken of | heart | and | crushed of | spirit |
Original form
What this tells us
Psalm 34 is the song of someone who has been rescued: “I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4). It does not pretend life is easy. The very next verse after this one says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” (Psalm 34:19). The word behind “brokenhearted” is shavar: to break, to burst, to shatter. It is a strong word, used for smashing pots and breaking bones as well as hearts. The verse does not soften grief into feeling a little low. It says broken, and then it says, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted.” Near is the surprise. People often step back from someone who is grieving, not knowing what to say. Job’s friends did the wise thing at first: “they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him” (Job 2:13). The psalm says God comes closer, not further away, when a heart breaks. The second line adds, “He saves the contrite in spirit”: word for word, those crushed in spirit. If your heart feels broken, you have not drifted far from God. This verse says that is exactly where he comes near, whether or not you can feel it yet.
What the original says
Behind the word “mourn” in this verse is the Greek word pentheō (said pen-THEH-oh).
It means to mourn, to grieve: Strong’s says both the feeling and the act, the sorrow inside and the weeping you can see.
This form, penthountes, is an ‘-ing’ form with ‘the’ before it: word for word, ‘the ones mourning’. It describes people by what they are going through, not by a single moment.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘mourn’ 8 times, counting its other forms, as in James’s call to “Grieve, mourn, and weep” (James 4:9):
Word by word
| Μακάριοι | οἱ | πενθοῦντες | ὅτι | αὐτοὶ | παρακληθήσονται |
| blessed | those | mourning | for | they themselves | will be comforted |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus has gone up to teach: “When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain and sat down” (Matthew 5:1). His first words are a list of surprising blessings, beginning with “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). The second blessing is for people in grief. The word for “mourn” is pentheō: to grieve, both the sorrow inside and the outward signs of it, the weeping and the mourning others can see. Jesus does not say that grief is good. He says those who grieve are not forgotten: “for they will be comforted.” Jesus is echoing an old promise. Isaiah spoke of one sent “to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:2), to give “the oil of joy for mourning” (Isaiah 61:3). Some Christians hear this blessing mainly as comfort for every kind of loss, others mainly as a blessing on those who grieve over sin and over the brokenness of the world, and many hear both. Either way, the comfort is promised to people who are still mourning, not to people who have finished. Grief can make you feel left out of every blessing. Here it is named in the second line of Jesus’ first sermon, with a promise attached to it.
What the original says
Behind the word “wept” in this verse is the Greek word dakruō (said dah-KROO-oh).
It means to weep, to shed tears. It comes from the Greek word for a tear.
This form, edakrusen, is a plain statement of something that happened: he wept. In Greek it is the first word of the sentence, with Jesus’ name after it: ‘wept Jesus’.
This is the only verse in the New Testament with this word. The Berean puts it ‘wept’:
Word by word
| ἐδάκρυσεν | ὁ | Ἰησοῦς |
| wept | the | Jesus |
Original form
What this tells us
Lazarus, a friend Jesus loved, has died. “When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb” (John 11:17). His sister Mary falls at Jesus’ feet and says, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32). The word for “wept” is dakruō: to shed tears. It appears only here in the New Testament. When Jesus saw Mary weeping, “He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:33), and then he cried. The people watching said, “See how He loved him!” (John 11:36). What makes this short verse so striking is what Jesus already knows. He has just told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and in a few minutes he will call out, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43). He weeps anyway. Hope and tears are not opposites here; they stand in the same moment, in the same person. Later Paul tells Christians to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), and here is Jesus doing it first. If you have been told that grief shows a lack of faith, this verse answers otherwise. The one who is the resurrection stood at a grave and cried.
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Download on the App StoreWhat the original says
Behind the word “grief” in this verse is the Greek word lupē (said LOO-pay).
It means sadness, sorrow, grief: pain of heart.
This form, lupē, is a noun, and it is what the sentence is about: your grief is the thing that will turn. A few words before it is lupēthēsesthe, “You will grieve”, the verb from the same family.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘sorrow’ 9 times, as in “I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart” (Romans 9:2):
Word by word
| λυπηθήσεσθε | ἀλλ᾽ | ἡ | λύπη | ὑμῶν | εἰς | χαρὰν |
| will be grieved | but | the | grief | of you | to | joy |
Original form
What this tells us
It is the last night before the cross. Jesus has told his disciples, “In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me” (John 16:16), and they do not understand what he means. He is preparing them for what is about to happen to him, and to them. The word for “grief” is lupē: sadness, sorrow, pain of heart. Jesus does not tell them they will be spared it. He says plainly, “you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve.” Then he makes a promise about the grief itself: “your grief will turn to joy.” He gives a picture from ordinary life: “A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy” (John 16:21). The pain is not swapped for something unrelated; it becomes the way to the joy. And he adds, “no one will take away your joy” (John 16:22). The joy he promises is one that cannot be taken back. Grief is real, and Jesus does not hurry anyone past it. What he promises is not that it never comes, but that it will not have the last word.
What the original says
Behind the word “grieve” in this verse is the Greek word lupeō (said loo-PEH-oh).
It means to grieve, to be sad, to feel sorrow. It is the verb that goes with lupē, the grief you met in John 16:20.
This form, lupēsthe, comes after ‘so that not’: it says what Paul hopes will not happen. Word for word, ‘so that you may not grieve’, and then, “like the rest”.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘grieve’ 11 times and ‘sorrow’ 7 times, counting their other forms. When Jesus asked Peter a third time if he loved him, “Peter was deeply hurt” (John 21:17), and this is the word:
Word by word
| κοιμωμένων | ἵνα | μὴ | λυπῆσθε | καθὼς | καὶ | οἱ |
| themselves falling asleep | so that | not | you may be grieved | even as | also | the |
Original form
What this tells us
The church in Thessalonica is young, and some of its members have already died. Those left behind are not sure what has happened to them. Paul writes, “we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death”, and then explains the hope of the resurrection in the verses that follow. The word for “grieve” is lupeō: to be sad, to feel sorrow. Notice what Paul does not say. He does not tell Christians not to grieve. He says, “so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.” There is grief with hope, and grief without it, and he wants them to have the first kind. His reason comes next: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). He ends the passage with something to do with that hope: “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). The hope is meant to be said out loud, to one another, at gravesides and at kitchen tables. Your tears for someone you have lost are not a failure of hope. Hope changes the kind of grief, not whether you grieve.
What the original says
Behind the word “brokenhearted” in this verse is shavar again (said shah-VAR), the word you met in Psalm 34:18.
It is the same word: to break, to burst, to shatter. Here too it is joined to ‘heart’.
This form, lishvurei, has the same ‘to’ (לְ) in front and the same picture in a slightly different form: ‘the broken of’, tied to the next word, ‘heart’. Just before it stands harofe, “He heals”: the healer and the broken side by side.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘brokenhearted’ 3 times, always joined with ‘heart’, as in “He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1):
Word by word
| הָרֹפֵא | לִשְׁבוּרֵי | לֵב | וּמְחַבֵּשׁ | לְעַצְּבוֹתָם |
| who · healing | broken of | heart | and · binding up | wounds · their |
Original form
What this tells us
Psalm 147 begins, “Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God” (Psalm 147:1), and then gives reasons. One is a homecoming: “The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel” (Psalm 147:2). The God who brings scattered people home is also the God of this verse. The word behind “brokenhearted” is shavar again, the word for breaking and shattering you met in Psalm 34. Here the broken are not only seen. Something is done for them: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” The next verse jumps from wounds to the night sky: “He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name” (Psalm 147:4). The same God does both. The one who counts the stars kneels to bandage a wound. And binding up is patient work: a bandage is put on, and the healing happens slowly underneath it. The psalm does not promise that grief will be over by morning. It promises a God who stays at the work of healing. If your grief feels too small to matter in a world this large, this verse puts the stars and your heart side by side, in the care of the same hands.
What the original says
Behind the word “mourning” in this verse is the Greek word penthos (said PEN-thos).
It means grief, mourning: the sorrow that follows a death. It is the noun from the same family as pentheō, the ‘mourn’ you met in Matthew 5:4.
This form, penthos, is a noun in a list: ‘nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain’. Each comes after the same small word, ‘nor’, so each is named on its own.
It is used only 5 times in the New Testament. The Berean puts it ‘grief’ 3 times and ‘mourning’ 2 times:
Word by word
| ἔσται | ἔτι | οὔτε | πένθος | οὔτε | κραυγή | οὔτε |
| will be | any longer | nor | mourning | nor | crying | nor |
Original form
What this tells us
Near the end of the Bible, John sees “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1). Then he hears a loud voice: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:3). This verse says what that closeness will mean for people who have grieved. The word for “mourning” is penthos: grief, sorrow, the mourning that follows a death. It stands in a short list of things that will be gone: “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.” Each one is named on its own, as if none were too small to mention. Before the list comes the most tender line: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Isaiah had promised the same long before: “The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face” (Isaiah 25:8). Christians read the details of Revelation in different ways, but they share this hope: that God himself will deal with every grief, personally, one face at a time. Grief belongs to “the former things” that will pass away. Until then, the tears you cry are tears God intends one day to wipe away himself.
Behind "grief" are 25 different words
Your English Bible says "grief" 150 times. Behind it stand several Hebrew and Greek words:
Reflect
Read it as yours
This verse was written for a heart that feels broken. Read it slowly:
Name it
Who or what are you grieving? Write their name, or the name of what you lost. Jesus “wept” at his friend’s grave (John 11:35); you can tell God plainly how it feels.
Carry with you
Who could you sit with this week, the way Job’s friends sat with him, without needing the right words?
A note
Grief is not a lack of faith. If it stays very heavy for a long time, or makes ordinary days hard to get through, a counselor or a pastor can walk with you.