The Bible does not hurry the grieving. It gives words for tears, promises God's nearness, and holds out hope beyond death.
The Bible treats grief honestly and promises God's nearness in it. Psalm 34:18 says "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart," and Jesus himself wept at his friend's tomb (John 11:35). Comforting KJV verses for loss include Matthew 5:4, Psalm 23:4, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 and Revelation 21:4.
For a longer reflection on walking through loss, see grief and the Christian life, or pray with a prayer in grief. The promise of the resurrection is the ground of Christian hope beyond death.
Promises that God draws close in sorrow.
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
David's psalm of thanks after God delivered him from danger.
God draws close to the brokenhearted rather than standing at a distance from their pain.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
A psalm praising God for rebuilding Jerusalem and gathering the outcasts of Israel.
The same God who numbers the stars tends to individual broken hearts and binds up their wounds.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Jesus speaks in the Beatitudes at the opening of the Sermon on the Mount.
Mourning is not outside God's blessing; Jesus promises comfort to those who grieve.
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.
David's shepherd psalm, one of the passages most often read at funerals.
The valley of the shadow of death is walked through, not avoided, with the Shepherd present all the way.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 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.
Paul opens his letter after a season of severe affliction in the province of Asia.
God is called the God of all comfort, and the comfort he gives becomes comfort to share with others.
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Asaph, a temple musician, reflects after a crisis of faith.
When body and heart give out, God remains the strength of the heart and a portion forever.
Scripture makes room for tears.
Jesus wept.
Jesus stands near the tomb of his friend Lazarus, seeing Mary and the mourners weeping.
Jesus grieves openly, even knowing he is about to raise Lazarus, which honors the tears of everyone who mourns.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
The Preacher reflects on the seasons and rhythms of human life.
Weeping and mourning have their rightful time; grief is part of life under heaven, not a failure of faith.
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
According to its title, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
God keeps account of every tear, so no sorrow goes unnoticed.
I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
A psalm of David prayed in deep distress of body and soul.
Scripture records grief in raw, honest language, giving words to long nights of tears.
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Paul's instructions on sincere love within the church.
Grief is meant to be shared; believers are called to weep with those who weep.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah's song of the suffering servant, which Christians read as fulfilled in Jesus.
The servant is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, so the grieving are not alone in their pain.
Promises Christians hold at the graveside.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Jesus speaks to Martha four days after her brother Lazarus has died.
Jesus answers death with a claim about himself: he is the resurrection and the life.
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. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Paul writes to a young church grieving members who had died.
Christians still sorrow, but not as those without hope, because Jesus died and rose again.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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. 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.
Jesus comforts his disciples at the Last Supper, the night before his death.
Jesus promises a prepared place and his return, words often read at Christian funerals.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The close of Paul's long chapter on the resurrection of the dead.
Death is described as swallowed up in victory, its sting removed.
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
A psalm of thanks from someone rescued from the snares of death.
The death of God's faithful people is precious, never insignificant, in his sight.
Grief is real, but Scripture says it is not the final word.
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
A psalm of David, titled for the dedication of the house, giving thanks after rescue.
Weeping is real but not final; joy comes in the morning after the night.
And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
Jesus tells his disciples they will grieve when he leaves them.
Their sorrow will turn into a joy no one can take away, a promise Christians see fulfilled in the resurrection.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Paul reflects on the hardships of his ministry.
Present affliction is set against an eternal weight of glory, the unseen things that last.
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
Isaiah's vision of a feast God prepares for all peoples on his holy mountain.
God promises to swallow up death and to wipe away tears from every face.
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.
John's vision of the new heaven and the new earth near the end of the Bible.
Scripture closes with the promise that God himself will wipe away every tear and end death, sorrow and pain.
The Bible treats grief as real and holds God close to it. Psalm 34:18 says "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart," and Matthew 5:4 promises, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." Scripture gives words for sorrow and also points to hope beyond death.
Many find comfort in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, which says Christians sorrow, but "not, even as others which have no hope." John 14:1-3 and Revelation 21:4, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," are also among the passages most often read at Christian funerals.
Yes. John 11:35 says simply, "Jesus wept," at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is "a time to mourn," and Romans 12:15 asks believers to "weep with them that weep." Grief is treated as a natural expression of love, not a lack of faith.
In John 11:25 Jesus says, "I am the resurrection, and the life." Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:55, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Psalm 23:4 and Psalm 116:15 are also frequently read when a believer dies.
2 Corinthians 1:3 calls God "the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," and says he comforts us so we can comfort others. Psalm 147:3 adds, "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." God's comfort is described as personal and near.
Read slowly and choose one verse at a time rather than many. Psalm 56:8 asks God to "put thou my tears into thy bottle," a reminder that you can bring tears to God as they are. Some find it helpful to pray a psalm aloud or share a verse with others who mourn.