Bible Verses About Death

The shortness of life

Scripture compares our lives to a breath, a mist and a flower in the field. That can sound bleak, but the psalmist asks God to teach him to number his days so he can live wisely. These verses invite us to hold life gratefully, and to remember that God's love outlasts every season.

So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12 (BSB)

“Show me, O Lord, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

Psalm 39:4-5 (BSB)

You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James 4:14 (BSB)

As for man, his days are like grass - he blooms like a flower of the field; when the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the Lord extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children - to those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.

Psalm 103:15-18 (BSB)

Comfort for those near the end

On the cross, Jesus promised a dying man that he would be with him, and he committed his own spirit into the Father's hands with words from the psalms. Paul wrote of departing to be with Christ. These verses are often read aloud at a bedside, quietly and slowly.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

Psalm 116:15 (BSB)

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed.

Philippians 1:21-23 (BSB)

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

2 Corinthians 5:1 (BSB)

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Luke 23:42-43 (BSB)

Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth.

Psalm 31:5 (BSB)

The hope of resurrection

At the centre of Christian hope is the resurrection of Jesus. Paul calls him the firstfruits, the first of a great harvest still to come. Because he was raised, death is described as defeated, and those who belong to him are promised life with him.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:20-22 (BSB)

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (BSB)

For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 6:40 (BSB)

For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this reason Christ died and returned to life, that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

Romans 14:7-9 (BSB)

And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,

2 Timothy 1:10 (BSB)

For those left behind

These verses look ahead to a day when tears are wiped away and death is no more. Paul wrote some of them specifically so that grieving believers could encourage one another. They do not hurry grief along, but they give it somewhere to rest.

He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 25:8 (BSB)

And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead - those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”

Revelation 14:13 (BSB)

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (BSB)

Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Hebrews 2:14-15 (BSB)

A prayer

Lord of life, death is hard to face and harder to understand. Thank you that you have walked through it before us and come out the other side. Be close to everyone who is dying today, and give them peace. Comfort those who are keeping watch at bedsides and those who are grieving. Free us from the fear of death, and fill us with the hope that in life and in death we belong to you. Amen.

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Keep reading

• Bible Verses About Grief
• Bible Verses About Hope
• Bible Verses About Comfort
• Psalm 23:1-6
• John 3:16