20 Bible Verses about Bereavement
Most Relevant Verses
When your brother’s anger toward you subsides and he forgets what you did to him, then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of you both in a single day?”
Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me [by causing the loss] of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin [from me]. All these things are [working] against me.”
“I will winnow (sort, separate) them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will deprive them of children, I will destroy My people;
They did not repent and turn from their [evil] ways.
Further, I will send against you hunger and wild beasts, and they will bereave you of children; virulent disease and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
and may God Almighty grant you compassion and favor before the man, so that he will release to you your other brother [Simeon] and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children [Joseph, Simeon, and Benjamin], I am bereaved.”
“Then [Zion], you will say in your heart,
‘Who has borne me these children,
Since I have been bereaved of my children
And am barren, an exile and a wanderer?
And who has reared these?
Indeed, I was left alone;
From where then did these children come?’”
and then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so the woman [Naomi] was left without her two sons and her husband.
“But these two things shall come to you abruptly, in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many [claims of power through your] sorceries,
In spite of the great power of your enchantments.
“Thus says the Lord God, ‘Because they say to you, “You [O land] are a devourer of people and have bereaved your nation of children,”
And Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are brave men, and they are enraged and fierce, like a bear deprived of her cubs in the field. Your father is a [shrewd] man of war, and will not spend the night with the people [knowing that you seek his life].
I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs,
And I will tear open their chests;
There I will also devour them like a lioness,
As a wild beast would tear them.
Let a man meet a [ferocious] bear robbed of her cubs
Rather than the [angry, narcissistic] fool in his folly.
They said, “O Lord, God of Israel, why has this come about in Israel, that there should be today one tribe missing from Israel?”
And the sons of Israel felt sorry [and had compassion] for their brother Benjamin and said, “One tribe has been cut off from Israel today.
Even though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them until not one is left.
Indeed, woe (judgment is coming) to them when I look away and withdraw [My blessing] from them!
Yes, [O mountains of Israel] I will cause men—My people Israel—to walk on you and take possession of you, so that you will become their inheritance and never again bereave them of children.’
therefore you will no longer devour people, and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ says the Lord God.
From Thematic Bible
Bereavement » Resignation in
David said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live? But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, And behold, there came a great [whirlwind] from the desert, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you. Then Job arose and rent his robe and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped read more.
And said, Naked (without possessions) came I [into this world] from my mother's womb, and naked (without possessions) shall I depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed (praised and magnified in worship) be the name of the Lord!
It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better and gains gladness. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth and sensual joy.
Now also we would not have you ignorant, brethren, about those who fall asleep [ in death], that you may not grieve [for them] as the rest do who have no hope [beyond the grave]. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him through Jesus those who have fallen asleep [ in death]. For this we declare to you by the Lord's [own] word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede [into His presence] or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep [in Him in death]. read more.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living ones who remain [on the earth], shall simultaneously be caught up along with [the resurrected dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord! Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words.
Bereavement » From God
Now it happened at midnight that the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the
Even though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them until not one is left.
Indeed, woe (judgment is coming) to them when I look away and withdraw [My blessing] from them!
Bereavement » Instances of » David » Of absalom
But the king covered his face and cried out with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
Bereavement » Instances of » Naomi, of her husband
and then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so the woman [Naomi] was left without her two sons and her husband.
And she said to them, Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?
Bereavement » Instances of » David » Of his child by bath-sheba
Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's widow bore to David, and he was very sick. David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted and went in and lay all night [repeatedly] on the floor. His older house servants arose [in the night] and went to him to raise him up from the floor, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. read more.
And on the seventh day the child died. David's servants feared to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, While the child was yet alive, we spoke to him and he would not listen to our voices; will he then harm himself if we tell him the child is dead? But when David saw that his servants whispered, he perceived that the child was dead. So he said to them, Is the child dead? And they said, He is. Then David arose from the floor, washed, anointed himself, changed his apparel, and went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept while the child was alive, but when the child was dead, you arose and ate food. David said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live? But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.
Bereavement » And to ezekiel, for his wife
Son of man [Ezekiel], behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes [your wife] at a single stroke. Yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears flow. Sigh and groan, but not aloud [be silent]; make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban upon your head and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your beard or eat the bread of mourners [furnished by others]. So I spoke to the people in the morning and in the evening my wife died, and I did the next morning as I was commanded.
Bereavement » Instances of » The egyptians, of their firstborn
At midnight the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites; and go, serve the Lord, as you said. read more.
Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone! And [ask your God to] bless me also. The Egyptians were urgent with the people to depart, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men.
Bereavement » Instances of » Jacob, of joseph
And Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned many days for his son. And all his sons and daughters attempted to console him, but he refused to be comforted and said, I will go down to Sheol (the place of the dead) to my son mourning. And his father wept for him.
Bereavement » Instances of » Joseph, of his father
Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him [tenderly].
When the days of weeping and public mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,
Bereavement » Instances of » Abraham, of sarah
Sarah died in Kiriath-arba
Bereavement » Mourning in, forbidden to aaron, on account of his sons' wickedness
Then Moses said to Aaron and to his [younger] sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not
Topics on Bereavement
Bereavement, Experience Of
Genesis 23:1-2Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years; this was the length of the life of Sarah.
Bereavement, Expression Of
Genesis 37:34So Jacob tore his clothes [in grief], put
Bereavement, God's Comfort in
Lamentations 3:32-33
For if He causes grief,
Then He will have compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness and tender mercy.