The following is excerpted from a report on tears by Mary Beth Swan.

The Bible (Strong’s Concordance) provides 697 references for verses associated with crying (weep, cry, tears).

One of the first Bible references for tears is in the book of Genesis when Abraham wept over the death of Sarah. Hannah wept before the Lord in her barren state. Esau wept over his father Isaac, asking for a blessing. King David writes prolifically in the Psalms of his tears before the Lord, even saying they were his portion day and night.

The Bible provides accounts of tears of grief (as above, also David weeping over the death of Absolom, Jairus’s daughter and the death of Jesus Christ). Others wept tears of repentance and sin-sorrow (Israel as they stood to hear the scriptures read and were broken over not following the Lord their God and His law, David as Nathan confronts him, Ninevah when Jonah finally goes there to pronounce God’s judgment, Peter after the rooster crowed for the third time). Jeremiah was called the Weeping Prophet, authoring the book of Jeremiah and the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Jeremiah wept for the pride of Judah. Israel cried to God in affliction. Professional mourners attended the deaths in New Testament times. Jairus’s daughter’s death may have been one instance of this. The commentaries vary.

God is called “Comforter” (Jeremiah, for example) and the God of all comfort. God’s law and His love are described as comfort-givers. The body of believers is called to comfort, also. II Corinthians 1:3-5. “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ.”

The second occasion of the tears of Jesus takes place as He travels to Jerusalem, just after the triumphal entry is described. “And when he came into view of the city, as he approached it he broke into loud weeping, exclaiming; ‘Oh that at this time you knew, yes, even you, on what your peace depends! The time will come for you when your enemies will throw ramparts around you, and encompass you, and shut you in on every side, and raze you to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another.’” -Luke 19:41-44. (Montgomery New Testament) He prophetically announced the destruction of the Temple. The Greek word used for weeping in this verse is klaioo, meaning to weep audibly, to burst into tears.

See also this blog on the mystery of tears.