What Does the Bible Say About Cremation?

Genesis 3:19 ESV / 163 helpful votes

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

1 Samuel 31:12 ESV / 125 helpful votes

All the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there.

1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV / 101 helpful votes

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Joshua 7:25 ESV / 73 helpful votes

And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

Amos 2:1 ESV / 59 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV / 51 helpful votes

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Philippians 3:21 ESV / 36 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.

2 Kings 23:17-24 ESV / 33 helpful votes

Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem. And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ...

Romans 8:38-39 ESV / 32 helpful votes

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Chronicles 16:13-14 ESV / 27 helpful votes

And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.

John 19:41-42 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Mark 13:27 ESV / 24 helpful votes

And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:42 ESV / 17 helpful votes

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.

Job 34:14-15 ESV / 16 helpful votes

If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 ESV / 15 helpful votes

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

2 Chronicles 16:14 ESV / 15 helpful votes

They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer's art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.

Ecclesiastes 3:20 ESV / 14 helpful votes

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

2 Kings 23:20 ESV / 13 helpful votes

And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Genesis 23:19 ESV / 13 helpful votes

After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 ESV / 11 helpful votes

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.

Daniel 12:2 ESV / 11 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.

Leviticus 20:14 ESV / 11 helpful votes

If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you.

John 3:16-17 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. 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.

1 Samuel 31:12-13 ESV / 10 helpful votes

All the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

1 Corinthians 15:54 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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.”

1 Corinthians 15:35 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”

1 Corinthians 15:1-58 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ...

Matthew 27:60-66 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” ...

1 Samuel 31:11-13 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

Ecclesiastes 6:3 ESV / 8 helpful votes

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

2 Samuel 2:4-6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing.

1 Samuel 31:9-13 ESV / 8 helpful votes

So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

1 Samuel 31:8-13 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. ...

Acts 8:2 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

Psalm 139:14 ESV / 7 helpful votes

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Philippians 3:1-21 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ...

Mark 16:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

1 John 3:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Genesis 50:26 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Genesis 23:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

John 5:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Leviticus 21:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

44 Bible Verses about Cremation

Genesis 3:19 ESV / 163 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 31:12 ESV / 125 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV / 101 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Joshua 7:25 ESV / 73 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Amos 2:1 ESV / 59 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV / 51 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 3:21 ESV / 36 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Kings 23:17-24 ESV / 33 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:38-39 ESV / 32 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Chronicles 16:13-14 ESV / 27 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 19:41-42 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 13:27 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 15:42 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Job 34:14-15 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 12:7 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Chronicles 16:14 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 3:20 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Kings 23:20 ESV / 13 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 23:19 ESV / 13 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Thessalonians 4:16 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 12:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 20:14 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16-17 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 31:12-13 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 15:54 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 15:35 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 15:1-58 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 27:60-66 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 31:11-13 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 6:3 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Samuel 2:4-6 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 31:9-13 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 31:8-13 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 8:2 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 139:14 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 3:1-21 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 16:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 3:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 50:26 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 23:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 5:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 21:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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