'Âbal (אָבַל, Strong's #56), “to mourn, lament.” This word is common to both ancient and modern Hebrew. Found in the Hebrew Old Testament 39 times, 'âbal is used in the simple, active verbal form primarily in poetry, and usually in a figurative sense. When it is used of mourning for the dead in a literal sense, the word is found in prose sections and in the reflexive form, indicating action back on the subject. It first occurs in Gen. 37:34: “And Jacob … mourned for his son many days.”
When used in the figurative sense, 'âbal expresses “mourning” by gates (Isa. 3:26), by the land (Isa. 24:4), and by pastures (Amos 1:2). In addition to mourning for the dead, “mourning” may be over Jerusalem (Isa. 66:10), over sin (Ezra 10:6), or over God’s judgment (Exod. 33:4). One may pretend to be a mourner (2 Sam. 14:2) simply by putting on mourning clothes.