πένθος

ὀδυρμός odyrmós · G3602 · wailing, lamenting

πένθος denotes the internal state of grief or mourning, while ὀδυρμός denotes its external vocal expression — wailing or lamentation. The two are closely related but distinct aspects of the same mourning experience: felt grief and its audible expression.

אֵבֶל ʼêbel · H60 · mourning

Greek πένθος and Hebrew אֵבֶל both denote mourning, uniting the internal experience of sorrow with its external ritual expression; πένθος is the standard Greek rendering of אֵבֶל in mourning contexts.

To be sad, to grieve for, to weep for, sorrow, grief25.142

The related noun πένθος names the state of grief or mourning itself. Babylon's downfall is described as bringing exactly what she denied she would ever see: “give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, 'I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning'” (Revelation 18:7), and the new creation is marked by its absence: “there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain” (Revelation 21:4).

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.