What does יָלַל (yālal) mean in the Bible?
Wailing is the expressed grief or distress described or called for in its context. Joel calls farmers and vine growers to wail over the ruined harvest.
Hebrew · H3213
יָלַל
Wailing is the expressed grief or distress described or called for in its context. Joel calls farmers and vine growers to wail over the ruined harvest.
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יָלַלH3213
Pronunciationyālal
What does יָלַל (yālal) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for יָלַל (H3213) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H3213?
The BSB source-word alignment has 30 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Wail (18), and wail (4), How they wail (1), I will wail (1), let them wail (1).
Where does יָלַל (yālal) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Isaiah 13:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (11), Jeremiah (8), Joel (3), Ezekiel (2).
What This Word Actually Means
Wailing is the expressed grief or distress described or called for in its context. Joel calls farmers and vine growers to wail over the ruined harvest. Micah says he will lament within a judgment announcement, and the prophecy in Jeremiah voices lament over Moab rather than treating a foreign people's loss as trivial. Isaiah calls ships to wail over Tyre's devastation and contrasts cries of heartbreak with the joy of the Lord's servants in another addressed prophecy.
Hosea rebukes people who wail on their beds while failing to turn to the Lord and continuing rebellion. That rebuke cannot make all grief rebellious. Read the speaker, cause and surrounding response. The verb permits truthful attention to severe loss without imposing an emotional performance, diagnosing mental illness as sin, or demanding that mourners end their grief quickly.
How the Bible Uses It
Ruined harvests, prophetic lament, mourning for Moab, Tyre's loss and contrasted responses supply different wailing contexts. Hosea's rebuke concerns the named conduct around the cry rather than every expression of grief.
- Joel.1.11
Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
Farmers and vine growers are called to wail because the harvest has been destroyed in the chapter's shared loss.
- Mic.1.8
Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
The prophet announces his own lament within the judgment account, rather than prescribing reenactment of its physical gestures.
- Jer.48.31
Therefore I will wail for Moab; I will cry out for all of Moab; I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.
The Moab oracle voices lament over its people in the account of their devastation.
- Hos.7.14
They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
The rebuke names failure to turn sincerely to the Lord and continued rebellion alongside the wailing on beds.
- Isa.23.14
Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!
Ships are called to wail because their stronghold has been destroyed within the prophecy concerning Tyre.
- Isa.65.14
My servants will shout for joy with a glad heart, but you will cry out with a heavy heart and wail with a broken spirit.
The announced contrast distinguishes the Lord's servants' joy from addressed cries of heartbreak and a broken spirit.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItWail18×Isaiah 13:6, Isaiah 14:31, Isaiah 15:3, Isaiah 16:7
and wail4×Isaiah 65:14, Jeremiah 4:8, Ezekiel 21:12, Micah 1:8
How they wail1×Jeremiah 48:39
I will wail1×Jeremiah 48:31
let them wail1×Isaiah 16:7
taunt1×Isaiah 52:5
they wail1×Hosea 7:14
wails1×Isaiah 15:2
will turn to wailing1×Amos 8:3
will wail1×Jeremiah 47:2
Show sample aligned rows
Isaiah 13:6הֵילִ֕ילוּtoWailVerb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine pluralIsaiah 14:31הֵילִ֤ילִֽיtoWailVerb - Hifil - Imperative - feminine singularIsaiah 15:2יְיֵלִ֔ילtowailsVerb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singularIsaiah 15:3יְיֵלִ֖ילtowailVerb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singularIsaiah 16:7יְיֵלִ֥ילtowailVerb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singularIsaiah 16:7יְיֵלִ֑ילtolet them wailVerb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singularIsaiah 23:1הֵילִ֣ילוּ׀toWailVerb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine pluralIsaiah 23:6הֵילִ֖ילוּtowailVerb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine pluralIsaiah 23:14הֵילִ֖ילוּtoWailVerb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine pluralIsaiah 52:5יְהֵילִ֙ילוּ֙totauntVerb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowIsaiah 13:6
Aligned rows30
Books represented9
Isaiah11Jeremiah8Ezekiel2Hosea1Joel3Amos1Micah1Zephaniah1Zechariah2
Source forms
הֵילִ֖ילוּ4xhê·lî·lūIsaiah 23:6, Isaiah 23:14, Ezekiel 30:2, Zephaniah 1:11
הֵילִ֙ילוּ֙3xhê·lî·lūJoel 1:11, Joel 1:13, Zechariah 11:2
אֲיֵלִ֔יל1x’ă·yê·lîlJeremiah 48:31
הֵילִ֕ילוּ1xhê·lî·lūIsaiah 13:6
הֵילִ֨ילוּ1xhê·lî·lūJeremiah 25:34
הֵילִ֔ילוּ1xhê·lî·lūJeremiah 48:39
הֵילִ֣ילוּ1xhê·lî·lūJeremiah 51:8
הֵילִ֣ילוּ׀1xhê·lî·lūIsaiah 23:1
Parsing patterns
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine plural12xIsaiah 13:6, Isaiah 23:1, Isaiah 23:6, Isaiah 23:14
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singular4xIsaiah 15:2, Isaiah 15:3, Isaiah 16:7
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine plural2xJeremiah 4:8, Joel 1:5
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - feminine singular2xIsaiah 14:31, Jeremiah 49:3
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine plural2xIsaiah 52:5, Hosea 7:14
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative - first person common singular1xMicah 1:8
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural1xAmos 8:3
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular1xJeremiah 47:2
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Receive grief patiently and offer appropriate companionship without demanding quick emotional resolution.
- Do not diagnose a distressed person's illness or spiritual standing from crying or silence.
Avoid claiming...
- The verb cannot classify every wail as rebellion or every grieving person as rejected.
- A prophet's physical lament cannot require unsafe reenactment or an emotional performance from mourners.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Vocal expression of extreme distress: howling grief or boisterous clamor, often collective lament
Strong'sH3213
Lexical occurrences31 versesWord forms1 form25 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkIsaiah 23:1-7Source Gloss
to howl (with a wailing tone) or yell (with a boisterous one)
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Vocal expression of extreme distress: howling grief or boisterous clamor, often collective lament
to howl (with a wailing tone) or yell (with a boisterous one) BDB: howl Usage: (make to) howl, be howling.
Grammatical Forms
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups1Aligned forms25
Hiphilcausative active — the subject causes someone else to perform the action25×
Sequential imperfectEzek 30:2 · Isa 13:6 · Isa 23:1 · Isa 23:6 · Isa 23:14 · Jer 25:34 · Jer 48:20 · Jer 51:8 · Joel 1:11 · Joel 1:13 · Zech 11:2 · Zeph 1:11 · Isa 14:31 · Jer 49:316×
ImperfectIsa 15:2 · Isa 15:3 · Isa 16:7 · Hos 7:14 · Isa 52:5 · Isa 65:14 · Jer 48:318×
PerfectJer 48:391×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Old Testament Witnesses
To cry out in lament.
Showing 1 selected witness from 31 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
יָלַל is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Why This Word Matters
The repeated call to wail underscores the magnitude of Tyre’s loss.Isaiah 23:1-7
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
These witnesses give grief a concrete setting. Joel names the lost harvest that affects farmers and vine growers; Micah voices lament as part of his prophetic message; and the prophecy voices mourning over Moab's loss rather than dismissing a foreign people's distress. Isaiah addresses Tyre's devastation and elsewhere sets out a contrast concerning the Lord's servants and those addressed in that prophecy.
Hosea requires a different assessment, because its rebuke concerns insincere turning and continuing rebellion around the wailing. The verb alone does not supply that judgment. Teaching can acknowledge severe sorrow, hear distress and make room for grief without prescribing a performance. A congregation must not demand that mourners reproduce a prophet's bodily gestures, use tears to identify mental illness as moral guilt, or treat someone's continuing heartbreak as proof that God has rejected them.
The actual context governs correction as well as compassion.
Anchor passage
Jer.48.31
Doctrinal connections
- Joel names ruined crops and calls affected farmers and vine growers to lament the loss.
- Micah's lament belongs to his stated prophetic response within the announced judgment.
- The voiced mourning over Moab keeps foreign people's distress within prophetic speech.
- Hosea rebukes the named insincere turning and rebellion rather than the existence of tears.
- Isaiah's ships wail over their destroyed stronghold within the Tyre announcement.
- Isaiah's joy and heartbreak contrast retains its addressed servants and prophetic setting.
The wailing verb retains its attested forms without making a Hifil label a command to manufacture emotion. Thirty directly tagged BSB tokens in twenty-eight verses remain separately stated from the canonical thirty-one; lament, weeping and cries for help overlap without being identical lexemes.
From Old to New Testament
John 11:1-44 records grief at Lazarus' death, Jesus' tears and His particular raising of Lazarus. This is a canonical comparison concerning truthful mourning, not a quotation of the Hebrew wailing verb or a timetable promising that every bereavement will be reversed in the same manner.