4553. misped

Lexical Summary

misped: Mourning, lamentation

Original Word: מִסְפֵּד
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: micepd
Pronunciation: mis-payd'
Phonetic Spelling: (mis-pade')
KJV: lamentation, one mourneth, mourning, wailing
NASB: mourning, lamentation, wailing, lament
Word Origin: [from H5594 (סָפַד - lament)]

1. a lamentation

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

lamentation, mourning, wailing

From caphad; a lamentation -- lamentation, one mourneth, mourning, wailing.

see HEBREW caphad

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
from saphad
Definition
a wailing
NASB Translation
lament (1), lamentation (4), mourning (5), wailing (4).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

מִסְמֵּד noun masculine^{Genesis 50:10} wailing; — absolute ׳מ Amos 5:16 11t.; construct מִסְמַּד Micah 1:11 2t.; suffix מִסְמְּדִי Psalm 30:12; — wailing:

1 for dead, Genesis 50:10 (J; as accusative of congnate meaning with verb), Zechariah 12:10 (with עַלֿ; compare Zechariah 12:11; Zechariah 12:11 below).

2 for calamity experienced Amos 5:16 (twice in verse) ("" אֵבֶל), vAmos 5:17; Micah 1:8 (כַּתַּנִּים ׳מ, "" אֵבֶל), Micah 1:11; Jeremiah 48:38; Ezekiel 27:31, anticipated Jeremiah 6:26; Esther 4:3.

3 in contrition Isaiah 22:12 (+ בְּכִי), Joel 2:12 (+ צוֺם, בְּכִי), compare Zechariah 12:11 (twice in verse).

4 in General, Psalm 30:12 (opposed to מָחוֺל, compare Ecclesiastes 3:4).

Topical Lexicon

Primary Sense and Semantic Range

מִסְפֵּד denotes public or private mourning expressed through lamentation, wailing, and ritual actions. It covers grief for bereavement, calamity, or sin and is often accompanied by sackcloth, ashes, fasting, and loud cries.

Cultural Background of Mourning in Ancient Israel

Ancient Israelites responded to loss with highly visible, communal rites: tearing garments (Genesis 37:34), sitting in dust (Job 2:13), shaving the head (Isaiah 22:12), rhythmic beating of the breast, professional mourners (Amos 5:16), and funeral dirges. These acts acknowledged both the reality of death and the sovereign hand of God behind every life-event (Deuteronomy 32:39).

Canonical Distribution and Representative Uses

• Genesis 50:10 pictures the earliest recorded “great and solemn lamentation” when Joseph honored Jacob at the threshing floor of Atad.
• Esther 4:3 shows national mourning in response to genocidal threat: “fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.”
• Psalm 30:11 celebrates divine reversal: “You turned my mourning into dancing.”
• Isaiah 22:12 and Jeremiah 6:26 connect mourning with prophetic calls to repentance amid impending judgment.
• Ezekiel 27:31 personifies Tyre’s allies lamenting a shattered commercial empire.
• Joel 2:12 links mourning to covenant return: “Return to Me… with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
• Amos 5:16-17 summons both farmers and professional mourners when the LORD “passes through” in judgment.
• Micah 1:8 dramatizes the prophet’s own identification with the nation’s plight.
• Zechariah 12:11 foretells an eschatological lament comparable to “the mourning of Hadad-rimmon,” anticipating national repentance.

Theological Themes

1. Recognition of Divine Sovereignty: Mourning is never random grief but acknowledgment that the LORD gives and takes away (Job 1:21).
2. Corporate Solidarity: Whole communities bear one another’s pain (Esther 4:3; Amos 5:16).
3. Prophetic Warning: Mourning can be preventive, urging repentance before judgment falls (Joel 2:12).
4. Redemptive Reversal: Scripture moves from lament to joy (Psalm 30:11), prefiguring resurrection hope.

Prophetic and Eschatological Dimensions

Zechariah 12:10-14 pictures Israel’s future mourning over “the One they have pierced,” leading to cleansing (Zechariah 13:1). Revelation 1:7 echoes this theme, showing that final redemption arises out of heartfelt lament.

Practical Implications for Ministry Today

• Pastoral Care: Encourage authentic lament; suppressing grief undermines healing (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
• Funeral Worship: Integrate honest sorrow with gospel hope, reflecting Psalm 30:11’s pattern.
• Corporate Repentance: Periods of fasting and mourning can recalibrate a congregation confronting sin or catastrophe.
• Social Compassion: Like professional mourners who joined even strangers’ grief, believers “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).

Connections to New Testament Fulfillment

Jesus affirms the blessedness of those who mourn (Matthew 5:4) and embodies the reversal of grief through His resurrection (John 20:11-18). Final consolation is promised when “He will wipe away every tear” (Revelation 21:4), completing the trajectory from מִסְפֵּד to everlasting joy.

Forms and Transliterations

הַמִּסְפֵּד֙ המספד וּבְמִסְפֵּֽד׃ וּלְמִסְפֵּ֔ד וּמִסְפֵּ֑ד וּמִסְפֵּ֖ד ובמספד׃ ולמספד ומספד כְּמִסְפַּ֥ד כמספד מִסְפְּדִי֮ מִסְפֵּ֑ד מִסְפֵּ֔ד מִסְפֵּ֛ד מִסְפֵּ֥ד מִסְפֵּד֙ מִסְפַּ֖ד מספד מספדי ham·mis·pêḏ hammisPed hammispêḏ kə·mis·paḏ kemisPad kəmispaḏ mis·paḏ mis·pə·ḏî mis·pêḏ misPad mispaḏ misPed mispêḏ mispeDi mispəḏî ū·ḇə·mis·pêḏ ū·lə·mis·pêḏ ū·mis·pêḏ ūḇəmispêḏ ulemisPed ūləmispêḏ umisPed ūmispêḏ uvemisPed

Englishman's Concordance

Genesis 50:10
HEB: וַיִּ֨סְפְּדוּ־ שָׁ֔ם מִסְפֵּ֛ד גָּד֥וֹל וְכָבֵ֖ד
NAS: and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed
KJV: sore lamentation: and he made
INT: lamented there lamentation great and sorrowful

Esther 4:3
HEB: וְצ֥וֹם וּבְכִ֖י וּמִסְפֵּ֑ד שַׂ֣ק וָאֵ֔פֶר
NAS: weeping and wailing; and many
KJV: and weeping, and wailing; and many
INT: fasting weeping and wailing sackcloth and ashes

Psalm 30:11
HEB: הָפַ֣כְתָּ מִסְפְּדִי֮ לְמָח֪וֹל לִ֥י
NAS: You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
KJV: Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing:
INT: have turned my mourning dancing have loosed

Isaiah 22:12
HEB: הַה֑וּא לִבְכִי֙ וּלְמִסְפֵּ֔ד וּלְקָרְחָ֖ה וְלַחֲגֹ֥ר
NAS: [you] to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head
KJV: to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness,
INT: he weeping to wailing to shaving wearing

Jeremiah 6:26
HEB: עֲשִׂ֣י לָ֔ךְ מִסְפַּ֖ד תַּמְרוּרִ֑ים כִּ֣י
NAS: as for an only son, A lamentation most bitter.
KJV: most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler
INT: an only make A lamentation most For

Jeremiah 48:38
HEB: וּבִרְחֹבֹתֶ֖יהָ כֻּלֹּ֣ה מִסְפֵּ֑ד כִּֽי־ שָׁבַ֣רְתִּי
NAS: there is lamentation everywhere;
KJV: [There shall be] lamentation generally upon all the housetops
INT: streets there is lamentation for have broken

Ezekiel 27:31
HEB: בְּמַר־ נֶ֖פֶשׁ מִסְפֵּ֥ד מָֽר׃
NAS: of soul With bitter mourning.
KJV: of heart [and] bitter wailing.
INT: bitterness of soul mourning bitter

Joel 2:12
HEB: וּבְצ֥וֹם וּבְבְכִ֖י וּבְמִסְפֵּֽד׃
NAS: weeping and mourning;
KJV: and with weeping, and with mourning:
INT: fasting weeping and mourning

Amos 5:16
HEB: בְּכָל־ רְחֹב֣וֹת מִסְפֵּ֔ד וּבְכָל־ חוּצ֖וֹת
NAS: the Lord, There is wailing in all
KJV: saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets;
INT: all the plazas is wailing all the streets

Amos 5:16
HEB: אֶל־ אֵ֔בֶל וּמִסְפֵּ֖ד אֶל־ י֥וֹדְעֵי
KJV: of lamentation to wailing.
INT: to mourning is wailing and to professional

Amos 5:17
HEB: וּבְכָל־ כְּרָמִ֖ים מִסְפֵּ֑ד כִּֽי־ אֶעֱבֹ֥ר
NAS: the vineyards [there is] wailing, Because
KJV: And in all vineyards [shall be] wailing: for I will pass
INT: all the vineyards wailing Because will pass

Micah 1:8
HEB: וְעָר֑וֹם אֶעֱשֶׂ֤ה מִסְפֵּד֙ כַּתַּנִּ֔ים וְאֵ֖בֶל
NAS: I must make a lament like the jackals
KJV: I will make a wailing like the dragons,
INT: and naked make A lament the dragons mourning

Zechariah 12:11
HEB: הַה֗וּא יִגְדַּ֤ל הַמִּסְפֵּד֙ בִּיר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם כְּמִסְפַּ֥ד
NAS: there will be great mourning in Jerusalem,
KJV: shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem,
INT: he will be great mourning Jerusalem the mourning

Zechariah 12:11
HEB: הַמִּסְפֵּד֙ בִּיר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם כְּמִסְפַּ֥ד הֲדַדְ־ רִמּ֖וֹן
NAS: in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon
KJV: in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon
INT: mourning Jerusalem the mourning of Hadadrimmon the plain

14 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 4553
14 Occurrences

ham·mis·pêḏ — 1 Occ.
kə·mis·paḏ — 1 Occ.
mis·paḏ — 1 Occ.
mis·pêḏ — 6 Occ.
mis·pə·ḏî — 1 Occ.
ū·lə·mis·pêḏ — 1 Occ.
ū·mis·pêḏ — 2 Occ.
ū·ḇə·mis·pêḏ — 1 Occ.