Cry
CRY.The term cry occurs in the NT with various shades of meaning corresponding to different Greek words, which express sometimes articulate, sometimes inarticulate utterances; in some cases it connotes strong emotion, in others a more or less heightened emphasis is all that is expressed.
According to classical usage, the Gr. terms employed in the NT may be thus distinguished: denotes to cry out for a purpose, to call; , to cry out as a manifestation of feeling; , to cry out harshly, often of an inarticulate and brutish sound (Grimm-Thayer, s.v. ), is the intensive of . The corresponding nouns are , a cry for help, and , outcry, clamour (both rare in NT). To these should be added the use of = to cry (most freq. in Lk.).
In classifying the NT usage of the term, it will be convenient to group the instances in each case under the Greek equivalents.
A. (1) to cry or cry out (= , :
(a) of articulate cries, followed by words uttered (often with saying or and said added): of joy, Mar 11:9 and ||; Mat 21:15 (children crying in the temple, Hosanna); of complaint or distress, Mar 10:48 || Luk 18:39, Mat 20:31 (Bartimaeus); Mat 14:30 (Peter crying out while walking on the water);* [Note: Probably here should be added Mat 15:23 (she crieth after us), where articulate cries seem to be meant, though the words uttered are not given.] Mar 1:23 || Luk 4:33 (; Lk. adds with a loud voice); Mar 9:24; Luk 4:41 (demons crying out and saying), cf. Mar 3:11; Mar 5:7; of the angry cries of the multitude, Mat 27:23, Mar 15:13-14 [Note: In || passages Luk 23:21 has , Joh 19:6 .] (cf. Act 21:36); in ref. to Jesus, of solemn and impressive utterance, Joh 7:37 (cf. Joh 1:15; Joh 7:28; Joh 12:44).
(b) of inarticulate cries: with ref. to the possessed, Mar 5:5 (cf. Luk 8:28 ); Mar 9:26 || Luk 9:39; of the disciples, Mat 14:28 (and they cried out for fear); with ref. to Jesus, of the cry on the cross (prob. inarticulate), Mat 27:50 (cried with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit). [Note: In the || passages Mar 15:37 has , and Luk 23:46 .]
(2) To cry or cry out (= ):
(a) of articulate utterances [cf. (1) (a) ]: of joy, Joh 12:13 (Hosanna); of distress, Mat 15:22 (Canaanitish woman cried, saying: cf. v. 23); with ref. to Jesus, of utterance under strong emotion, Joh 11:43 (Lazarus, come forth!).
(b) of undefined or inarticulate utterance: in the quotation from Isa 42:2, cited in Mat 12:19 (He shall not strive nor cry [], i.e. indulge in clamorous self-assertion).
(c) Cry = : the loud cry of deeply stirred feeling of joyful surprise: Luk 1:42 (Elisabeths greeting of the Virgin-mother: she lifted up her voice with a loud cry); the midnight cry, Mat 25:6 (Behold the bridegroom cometh).
For Heb 5:7 see below under B.
(3) To cry or cry out (= , , ):
(a) of articulate utterances: of solemn and impressive emphasis (= to speak with a high, strong voice), Mat 3:3 || Mar 1:3, Luk 3:4, Joh 1:23 (all in the quotation from Isa 40:3 the voice of one crying, etc.); of distressful appeal, Luk 9:38; esp. to cry for help to (= in OT), Luk 18:7 (the elect who day and night); ref. to Jesus, of the cry of agony on the cross (My God, my God, etc.), Mar 15:34 and || Mat 27:48.
In this connexion the passage in Jam 5:4 deserves notice: Behold the hire of your lahourers crieth out (); and the cries () of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Here the verb is used of crying for vengeance (cf. Hab 2:11) and the noun () of cries for help. The latter sense is esp. frequent in the Psalms (e.g. Psa 5:2; Psa 18:6; Psa 18:41 etc.), corresponding to the Heb. and derivatives. This word is used exclusively of crying for help (Driver). [Note: Parallel Psalter, p. 441.] Though frequent in the Psalms (LXX Septuagint and Heb.), it occurs rarely in the NT.
(b) of cries of joy, pain (inarticulate): of joy, Gal 4:27 (quotation from Isa 54:1); cf. of pain, Act 8:7 (of unclean spirits crying with a loud voice).
(4) To cry, cry out, or cry aloud (= , ):
(a) emphatic, followed by words uttered, Luk 8:8; Luk 8:54; cf. Luk 1:42 (, she spake out, Authorized Version ; lifted up lier voice, Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ); of angry cries of multitude (), Luk 23:21.
(b) of the inarticulate cries of the possessed, Mar 1:23 (and the unclean spirit crying with a loud voice).
(c) cry = , esp. in the phrase , with a loud voice or cry, added to verbs.
B. Crying in Heb 5:7.This passage, which has direct reference to our Lord, calls for special notice here: Who, in his days of flesh, having offered up, with strong crying ( ) and tears, prayers and supplications unto him that was able to save him out of death, etc. The ref. is doubtless primarily to Gethsemane (so Delitzsch, Westcott), though a wider application of the words to other prayers and times of peculiar trial in our Lords life* [Note: Westcott.] is not excluded. Schoettgen (ad loc.) [Note: Cited in Westcott, ib.] quotes a Jewish saying which strikingly illustrates the phrase: There are three kinds of prayers, each loftier than the preceding: prayer, crying, and tears. Prayer is made in silence; crying, with raised voice: but tears overcome all things. The conjunction of the terms mentioned often occurs in OT, esp. in the Psalms, e.g. Psa 39:13 :
Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And give ear unto my cry ();
Hold not thy peace at my tears.
Also Psa 61:2, and cf. Psa 80:5-6.
The close association of the idea of prayer with that of crying or cry may be illustrated from the Gospels, esp. perhaps in the case of our Lords cries on the cross (Mat 27:46; Mat 27:50, Luk 23:46). According to Jewish tradition, in the solemn prayer for forgiveness uttered by the high priest on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies, the words O Lord, forgive, were spoken with heightened voice, so that they could be heard at a distance.
Literature.Art. Call in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible i. 343f., and the Gr. Lexicons under the various Gr. terms (esp. Grimm-Thayer).
G. H. Box.