Day 34 of 75 · The Beatitude roots

ʾ-B-L

abila: mourner

אבילין

ܐܒ݂ܺܝܠܺܝܢ

The feel

ʾ-B-L is the root of mourning, grief with a reason and often a name. It shows in the body, in weeping, wailing, torn clothes, and days set apart. The Qala says those who are mourning, because the Beatitude addresses people while they are grieving.

The root family

Form	Pattern	Transliteration	Script	Standard	Qala rendering
ebal	simple-stem verb	ebal	אבל ܐܒܠ	to mourn	to mourn, to grieve
abila	passive participle, used as noun	abila	אבילא ܐܒܝܠܐ	mourner	one who is mourning
ebla	noun	ebla	אבלא ܐܒܠܐ	mourning	mourning (not found in the Gospels)

In the Gospels the verb appears in the Pʿal, ebal, to mourn (abilin, mourning ones, Mark 16:10), and in the Ethpʿel, tetʾablun, you will mourn (Luke 6:25).

In his voice

Matthew 5:4

Fortunate are those who are mourning, for they will be comforted.

abile, "those who are mourning." The Beatitude uses the root in the present. It calls people fortunate while they are still grieving.

Mark 16:10

She went and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping.

abilin, "they were mourning." It describes those who had been with Yeshua, mourning and weeping after the crucifixion.

Luke 6:25

How terrible for you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

tetʾablun, "you will mourn." The passive-reflexive stem. In Luke's matching warning, those who laugh now are the ones who will mourn.

Practice

Think of one loss you have not finished grieving, and stay with it for one minute without reaching for comfort. Then say abila, mourner, aloud.

Connections

Day 35, B-Y-ʾ Day 32, M-S-K-N Day 37, K-P-N Day 38, Ṣ-H-Y ebal

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