# Biblical verses quoted at funerals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073 "2009-01-13T12:24:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/1 "2009-01-13T12:24:09Z")
Are there verses that are considered staples for funerals? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/2 "2009-01-13T12:43:36Z")
In the English-speaking world, the [Order for the Burial of the Dead](http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/occasion/burial.html) from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England is probably the best-known example of things said at funerals (it includes the famous line “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”). It in turn quotes from or refers to a number of Bible verses. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/3 "2009-01-13T12:45:05Z")
[Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%203%20;&version=9;) > [@](#): > > 1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: > > 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; > > 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; > > 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; > > 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; > > 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; > > 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; > > 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/4 "2009-01-13T12:52:13Z")
Psalm 23:1-6: > [@](#): > > The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/5 "2009-01-13T14:17:10Z")
While one purpose of a funeral is to honor the deceased, the major purpose is to comfort the grieving. Accordingly, the texts, prayers, etc., are selected with an eye to expressing sympathy and support, and with the suggestion that much as we may miss him (or her) he (she) has gone on to Better Things / is no longer suffering / is safe in God’s care, and that the Christian hope is that we will someday be reunited with the person we loved and have lost to death. (Usual disclaimer: I’m not promulgating Christianity as fact in GQ, but setting forth for informational purposes what the Christian belief/practice is, as the appropriate response to the OP.) ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/6 "2009-01-13T14:25:16Z")
At most of the memorial services I attended while in my “Born-again” phase, the quotes tended to be from 1 Thess. chap 4: "13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,\* about those who have died,\* so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.\* 15For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.\* 16For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. " ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/7 "2009-01-13T22:47:01Z")
At my father’s funeral, we used I Corinthians 13:1-13 ("…and the greatest of these is love"). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/8 "2009-01-13T23:26:42Z")
[John 11:25-26](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2011:25-26;&version=9;) - “I am the resurrection and the life…” ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/9 "2009-01-13T23:31:50Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > [John 11:25-26](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2011:25-26;&version=9;) - “I am the resurrection and the life…” This is the gospel passage that I hear most commonly at Catholic funerals. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/10 "2009-01-14T03:44:28Z")
It’s also the opening words of the Anglican Order for the Burial of the Dead cited by **MEBuckner.** Traditionally, the priest would meet the pall-bearers carrying the body in the chuchyard and would precede them into the church, saying that verse. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-verses-quoted-at-funerals/481073/11 "2009-01-14T04:05:24Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It’s also the opening words of the Anglican Order for the Burial of the Dead cited by **MEBuckner.** Traditionally, the priest would meet the pall-bearers carrying the body in the chuchyard and would precede them into the church, saying that verse. At Catholic funerals the responsory \*Subvenite Sancti Dei \*is traditionally chanted as the body is borne into the church.