Bible Strands
Genesis 37:35
All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jacob responds to his family after learning of Joseph's presumed death. His sons and daughters attempt to console him, but he rejects their efforts while enduring prolonged mourning.
The words — The text emphasizes וַ/יְמָאֵן (va/y.ma.'En), literally "he refused," and לְ/הִתְנַחֵ֔ם (le./hit.na.Chem), meaning "to be comforted." These terms mark Jacob's deliberate refusal to accept consolation in favor of sustained grief.
The thread — This refusal to be comforted recurs in Genesis 42:38 and 2 Samuel 12:17, where leaders similarly reject consolation over lost children. It also aligns with the unyielding mourning described in Job 2:11.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to acknowledge that severe loss can legitimately override cultural expectations for grief. It presents unmediated mourning as a valid response rather than a condition requiring immediate resolution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
Cross-references
- Genesis 42:38 But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”
- 2 Samuel 12:17 The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.
- Job 2:11 Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.
- Genesis 31:43 But Laban answered Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, these sons are my sons, and these flocks are my flocks! Everything you see is mine! Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne?
- Genesis 35:22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Genesis 42:31 But we told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies.
- Genesis 44:29 Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’
- Genesis 45:28 “Enough!” declared Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die.”
- Psalms 77:2 In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Jeremiah 31:15 This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”