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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - John 16:20 - 16:20
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Weep - lament - be sorrowful (κλαύσετε - θρηνήσετε - λυπηθήσεσθε)
Of these three words, the last is the most general in meaning, expressing every species of pain, of body or of soul, and not necessarily the outward manifestation of sorrow. Both the other words denote audible expressions of grief. Θρηνέω marks the more formal expression. It means to utter a dirge over the dead. Thus Homer, of the mourning over Hector in Troy:
“On a fair couch they laid the corse, and placed
Singers beside it leaders of the dirge (θρηνων),
Who sang (ἐθρήνεον) a sorrowful, lamenting strain,
And all the women answered it with sobs.”
“Iliad,” xxiv. 720-722.
The verb occurs Mat 11:17; Luk 7:32; Luk 23:27. Κλαίω means audible weeping, the crying of children, as distinguished from δακρύω, to shed tears, to weep silently, which occurs but once in the New Testament, of Jesus' weeping (Joh 11:35). See on Luk 7:32.