James 4:9

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ταλαιπωρήσατε, καὶ πενθήσατε, καὶ κλαύσατε: ὁ γέλως ὑμῶν εἰς πένθος μεταστραφήτω, καὶ ἡ χαρὰ εἰς κατήφειαν.

Transliteration

Talaipōrēsate, and penthēsate, and klausate: the gelōs of you into penthos metastraphētō, and the chara into katēpheian.

Grammar Details

• *Talaipōrēsate*: aorist active imperative, 2nd plural - be wretched/lament
• *penthēsate*: aorist active imperative, 2nd plural - mourn/grieve
• *klausate*: aorist active imperative, 2nd plural - weep/wail
• *gelōs*: nominative, masculine, singular - laughter
• *penthos*: accusative, neuter, singular - mourning/grief
• *metastraphētō*: aorist passive imperative, 3rd singular - let be turned/transformed
• *chara*: nominative, feminine, singular - joy/gladness
• *katēpheian*: accusative, feminine, singular - gloom/dejection

Word Meanings

• *Talaipōrēsate*: be wretched/lament/endure hardship
• *penthēsate*: mourn/grieve/lament
• *klausate*: weep/wail/cry
• *gelōs*: laughter
• *penthos*: mourning/grief/sorrow
• *metastraphētō*: let be turned/transformed/changed
• *chara*: joy/gladness/delight
• *katēpheian*: gloom/dejection/downcast face

Referenced Verses

• Prov 14:13 : 13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; And the end of mirth is heaviness.
• Matt 5:4 : 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
• Luke 6:25 : 25 Woe unto you, ye that are full now! for ye shall hunger. Woe [unto you], ye that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
• Jer 31:18-20 : 18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus], Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God. 19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearneth for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.
• Ezek 16:63 : 63 that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah.
• Jas 5:1-2 : 1 Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
• Rev 18:7-8 : 7 How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. 8 Therefore {G1223} in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her.
• Ps 126:5-6 : 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves [with him].
• Zech 12:10-14 : 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto 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 first-born. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; 14 all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
• Lam 5:15 : 15 The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.
• Ezek 7:16 : 16 But those of them that escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity.
• Luke 16:25 : 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things: but now here he is comforted, and thou art in anguish.
• 2 Cor 7:10-11 : 10 For {G2596} godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, [a repentance] which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11 For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.
• Luke 6:21 : 21 Blessed [are] ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed [are] ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
• Eccl 2:2 : 2 I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it?
• Eccl 7:2-6 : 2 It 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. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. 6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
• Isa 22:12-13 : 12 And in that day did the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: 13 and behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.
• Jer 31:9 : 9 They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.
• Job 30:31 : 31 Therefore is my harp [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
• Ps 119:67 : 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray; But now I observe thy word.
• Ps 119:71 : 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I may learn thy statutes.
• Ps 119:136 : 136 Streams of water run down mine eyes, Because they observe not thy law.
• Jer 31:13 : 13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.