Contextual topic guide
Comforting Bible Verses for the Death of a Loved One
Bible verses for comfort during grief, loss, and times of mourning.
When someone you love has died, a few words of Scripture can say what is hard to say. These verses are grouped by need: the passages often read at funerals, comfort for the long weeks afterwards, psalms that give words to sorrow, and verses to share with someone who is grieving.
Comforting verses, grouped by need
Comforting Bible verses for the death of a loved one
Verses often read at funerals and in the days after a death.
“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”
Jesus speaks to Martha four days after her brother Lazarus died.
“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
He follows it with a question to Martha.
“Jesus wept.”
Jesus weeps on his way to Lazarus's tomb, even knowing what he is about to do.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
The start of a passage often read at funerals.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”
Jesus speaks of preparing a place.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
The promise to come again.
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”
Paul writes to a church grieving members who had died.
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
The reason for hope that Paul gives them.
“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Paul's picture of being together with the Lord.
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
Paul on being absent from the body and present with the Lord.
“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”
Living or dying, we belong to the Lord.
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
From Paul's long chapter on the resurrection.
“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”
From a psalm of thanks by someone who had been near death.
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
A voice from heaven in John's vision.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
God wiping away every tear.
Bible verses for comfort in grief
For the long weeks after a loss, when the cards stop coming.
“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
One of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.
“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
Near to the brokenhearted.
“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”
Healing for the broken in heart.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
The valley of the shadow of death.
“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;”
Paul calls God the God of all comfort.
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
A promise to uphold.
“As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
God's comfort compared to a mother comforting her child.
“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
My flesh and my heart faileth.
“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
Weeping in the night, joy in the morning.
“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?”
David pictures God keeping his tears.
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”
The opening of the passage about a time for everything.
“A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”
A time to mourn.
Psalms for honest grief
The Bible gives words for sorrow, not only for comfort.
“How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?”
"How long?" asked four times in two verses.
“I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.”
A psalmist worn out with weeping.
“My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?”
Tears day and night.
“Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.”
A prayer from someone whose eye is consumed with grief.
“Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.”
Pour out your heart before him.
Verses to share with someone who is grieving
For a sympathy card, or for sitting with a friend.
“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”
Weep with them that weep.
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Bearing one another's burdens.
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
Paul ends his teaching on grief by asking the church to comfort one another.
“So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.”
Job's friends sat with him in silence for seven days.
“Who comforteth 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.”
Comfort received, comfort passed on.
More Bible verses about comfort & grief
Further verses from this topic's original selection.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
All things work together for good
Grief and hope together
Paul writes to grieving Christians not that they should stop grieving, but that they should not grieve "as others which have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Jesus himself wept at the death of his friend Lazarus. The Bible makes room for both sorrow and hope.
Choosing a verse for a card
Short verses work best: Matthew 5:4, Psalm 34:18 or Revelation 21:4. Name the person who died if you can, and keep your own words simple. Open each verse in context before sending it so you know what surrounds it.
Questions about comfort & grief
What Bible verse is read at funerals?
John 14:1-3, Psalm 23, John 11:25-26 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 are among the passages most often read at Christian funerals.
What does the Bible say about grief?
The Psalms give many prayers of lament, Jesus wept over his friend Lazarus, and Paul encourages believers to grieve with hope rather than without it.