James 4:9

Genuine repentance involves grief over sin, not careless laughter. Mourning rightly precedes the joy God gives.

Cross-references · 23

• Matt 5:4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
• 2 Cor 7:10–11For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
• Luke 6:25Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
• Prov 14:13Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
• Jas 5:1–2Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
• Ps 119:67Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
• Jer 31:18–20I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.
• Eccl 7:2–6It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
• Ezek 16:63That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.
• Rev 18:7–8How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
• Ezek 7:16But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
• Luke 16:25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
• Job 30:31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
• Ps 126:5–6They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
• Lam 5:15The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
• Zech 12:10–14And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
• Isa 22:12–13And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
• Jer 31:9They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
• Luke 6:21Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
• Jer 31:13Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
• Ps 119:71It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
• Eccl 2:2I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
• Ps 119:136Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.