מִסְפֵּד H4553
Wailing, lamentation; loud communal mourning for the dead, for calamity, or in penitential grief.
A masculine noun from the root safad ('to beat the breast'), misped names the intense, often public, act of wailing. Its most memorable occurrence is the 'very great and grievous lamentation' at the threshing floor of Atad for Jacob, so loud that the Canaanites renamed the place Abel-mizraim (Gen 50:10). Prophetic literature saturates the term with eschatological force: Zechariah 12:10-11 envisions a future mourning 'as the mourning of Hadadrimmon,' while Joel 2:12 pairs it with fasting and weeping in a call to communal repentance. Amos places misped in the streets, vineyards, and every public space (Amos 5:16-17). Spanish 'lamentacion' and German 'Trauer' reflect its gravity, though neither quite captures the raw, breast-beating physicality of the Hebrew.
Senses
1. wailing, lamentation, mourning — Loud, demonstrative wailing, whether for the dead, in response to calamity, or as an act of penitential contrition. Funeral mourning: the elaborate grief for Jacob at Atad (Gen 50:10) and the anticipated mourning of Zechariah 12:10-11. National lamentation under judgment: Amos 5:16-17 fills city and countryside with misped, and Micah 1:8 likens it to the howling of jackals. Penitential grief: Isaiah 22:12 and Joel 2:12 call for misped alongside weeping and fasting. The Psalmist celebrates its reversal when God turns mourning into dancing (Ps 30:11). 14×
AR["النَّوْحُ", "رَثْيٌ", "كَ-نَوْحِ", "مَنَاحَةً", "نَدْبًا", "نَوْحًا", "نَوْحٌ", "نَوْحَةَ", "نَوْحِي", "وَ-المَناحَةِ", "وَ-بِ-نَوْحٍ", "وَ-نَدْبٌ", "وَالنَّوْحِ"]·ben["আমার-বিলাপকে", "এবং-বিলাপে", "ও-বিলাপ", "ও-বিলাপের-জন্য", "বিলাপ", "শোক", "শোকের-মতো"]·DE["Trauer", "[ולמספד]", "[מספד]", "eine-Klage", "mein-mourning", "und-Trauer"]·EN["and-for-mourning", "and-lamenting", "and-wailing", "and-with-mourning", "lamentation", "lamentation-of", "like-mourning-of", "my-mourning", "the-mourning", "wailing"]·FR["[ולמספד]", "[ומספד]", "[מספד]", "de-lamentation", "et-lamentation", "lamentation"]·heb["ה-מספד", "ו-ל-מספד", "ו-מספד", "וּ-ב-מספד", "וּ-מספד", "כ-מספד", "מספד", "מספד-י"]·HI["और-में-विलाप।", "और-विलाप", "और-विलाप-के-लिए", "जैसे-विलाप", "विलाप", "विलाप-मेरा-को"]·ID["dan-dengan-ratapan.", "dan-ratapan", "dan-untuk-meratap", "ratapan", "seperti-ratapan-"]·IT["[ולמספד]", "[ומספד]", "[מספד]", "[מספדי]", "come-lamento", "e-in-lamento", "e-lamento", "il-lamento", "lamentation", "lamento"]·jav["kados-sesambat", "kasusahan-kula", "lan-ing-sadaya", "lan-kalayan-sambat", "lan-supados-prihatos", "lan-tangis-tangisan", "ratapan", "sambat", "sesambat", "tangis", "tangisan"]·KO["그-애통이", "그리고-애곡을", "그리고-애곡이", "그리고-으로-통곡", "그리고-통곡과", "애곡-을", "애곡을", "애곡이라", "애도이다", "애통-같이", "애통-을", "애통을-"]·PT["como-lamento-de", "e-com-lamento", "e-lamentação", "e-para-lamentação", "lamentação", "meu-lamento", "o-lamento"]·RU["и-в-сетовании", "и-к-рыданию", "и-рыдание", "и-рыданию", "как-рыдание", "плач", "плач-мой", "рыдание", "рыданием"]·ES["como-duelo-de", "el-duelo", "lamentación", "lamento", "mi-lamento", "y-a-lamento", "y-con-lamento", "y-lamento"]·SW["kama-kuomboleza-kwa", "kifo-ya", "kilio", "kuomboleza", "maombolezo", "maombolezo-yangu", "na-kuomboleza", "na-kwa-maombolezo", "na-maombolezo"]·TR["ağıt", "ağıt-gibi", "ve-ağıt", "ve-ağıtla", "ve-dövünme", "ve-yas-tutmaya", "yas", "yas-tutmamı"]·urd["اور-سینہ-زنی", "اور-ماتم-سے", "اور-ماتم-کے-لیے", "اور-نوحہ", "ماتم", "ماتم-کی-طرح", "میرے-ماتم-کو", "نوحہ"]
Related Senses
H3548 1. priest, cultic officiant (750×)G5547 1. Christ, Messiah, Anointed One (540×)H5030 1. Prophet, divine spokesperson (317×)H5930a 1. burnt offering (sacrifice) (286×)H3881 1. Levites (priestly class) (283×)G4396 1. prophet, spokesperson of God (146×)H6944 1. sanctuary, holy place (129×)G0749 1. high priest, chief priest (123×)H6944 2. holiness, sacredness (abstract quality) (123×)G5330 1. Pharisee (99×)G4336 1. pray to God (86×)H6944 3. holy things, sacred offerings (plural) (86×)H3722a 1. make ritual atonement (Piel) (85×)H6912 1. bury (Qal active) (82×)H6419 1. pray (Hitpael) (80×)H6944 4. holiness (with possessive pronoun) (77×)H6942 1. sanctify, consecrate (Piel factitive) (76×)H2930a 1. Qal: be/become unclean (75×)H7819a 1. slaughter an animal (Qal active) (72×)H1486 1. lot (object cast for decisions) (71×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
מִסְפֵּד n.m. Gn 50:10 wailing;—abs. מ׳ Am 5:16 + 11 times; cstr. מִסְפַּד Mi 1:11 + 2 times; sf. מִסְפְּדִי ψ 30:12;—wailing: 1. for dead, Gn 50:10 (J; as acc. cogn.), Zc 12:10 (c. עַל־ cf. v 11(×2) infr.). 2. for calamity experienced Am 5:16(×2) (‖ אֵבֶל), v 17 Mi 1:8 (מ׳ כַּתַּנִּים, ‖ אֵבֶל), v 11 Je 48:38 Ez 27:31, anticipated Je 6:26 Est 4:3. 3. in contrition Is 22:12 (+ בְּכִי), Jo 2:12 (+ צוֹם, בְּכִי), cf. Zc 12:11(×2). 4. in gen., ψ 30:12 (opp. מָחוֹל, cf. Ec 3:4).