What Does the Bible Say About Death And Dying?

John 14:1-3 ESV / 18 helpful votes

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

John 11:25 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

John 3:16 ESV / 10 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15:51-54 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Matthew 10:28 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Daniel 12:2 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 ESV / 7 helpful votes

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Psalm 115:17 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence.

Psalm 49:15 ESV / 7 helpful votes

But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah

2 Thessalonians 1:9 ESV / 6 helpful votes

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

John 5:28-29 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Matthew 25:46 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Psalm 146:4 ESV / 6 helpful votes

When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

Genesis 37:35 ESV / 6 helpful votes

All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.

Revelation 14:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

Revelation 1:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Galatians 6:8 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Romans 8:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

John 14:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

John 5:28 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice

Matthew 8:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

Ecclesiastes 9:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.

Psalm 16:10 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

Revelation 20:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

Philippians 3:20-21 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

John 14:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Luke 23:43 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Luke 16:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

Jonah 2:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

Hosea 13:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

Psalm 145:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

Psalm 86:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Psalm 6:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?

Job 27:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

As long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Hebrews 2:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

2 Timothy 4:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

1 Thessalonians 4:15-16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Philippians 3:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

1 Corinthians 15:55 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Acts 2:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

Acts 2:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.

John 11:11-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,

John 5:29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

John 4:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Luke 16:19-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ...

Luke 14:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Matthew 26:38 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”

Ezekiel 28:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

Ezekiel 18:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Isaiah 43:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

Isaiah 38:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.

Isaiah 14:15-17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’

Isaiah 14:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.

Isaiah 8:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

Psalm 55:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

Job 14:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

2 Kings 21:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Genesis 3:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

Genesis 2:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Revelation 20:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Jude 1:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Jude 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

1 John 4:16-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ...

Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ...

Hebrews 9:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Hebrews 2:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

1 Timothy 6:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

Colossians 1:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

1 Corinthians 15:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

1 Corinthians 15:13-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ...

1 Corinthians 15:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Romans 6:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Acts 1:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

John 3:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Matthew 7:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

Ezekiel 18:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Isaiah 35:3-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

Isaiah 8:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

Psalm 37:9-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

Leviticus 18:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

Revelation 20:13 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Revelation 3:21 ESV / 1 helpful vote

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

1 John 5:16 ESV / 1 helpful vote

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

1 John 4:1 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 Peter 2:1 ESV / 1 helpful vote

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

Ephesians 6:17 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

Romans 5:6-10 ESV / 1 helpful vote

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Acts 4:12 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 3:23 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’

Acts 2:34 ESV / 1 helpful vote

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,

John 11:1 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

John 8:44 ESV / 1 helpful vote

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 5:39 ESV / 1 helpful vote

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,

John 3:1 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

Luke 12:48 ESV / 1 helpful vote

But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Isaiah 63:16 ESV / 1 helpful vote

For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.

Isaiah 53:12 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:10 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Job 34:10 ESV / 1 helpful vote

“Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

Job 14:21 ESV / 1 helpful vote

His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not.

Job 4:17 ESV / 1 helpful vote

‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?

2 Kings 21:17 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV / 1 helpful vote

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Leviticus 18:20 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her.

Leviticus 18:2-5 ESV / 1 helpful vote

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

Bible Verses about Death And Dying