Funeral readings
Old Testament
Please be aware that many readings, especially contemporary poetry, are copyrighted and require permissions and require the payment of royalties.
Old Testament
Isaiah 25:6–9 (He will swallow up death forever) Isaiah 61:1–3 (To comfort those who mourn) Lamentations 3:22–26, 31–33 (The Lord is good to those who wait for him) Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 (For everything there is a season) Wisdom 3:1–5, 9 (The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God) Isaiah 61:1–3 (To comfort those who mourn) Job 19:21–27a (I know that my Redeemer lives)
Psalms
Psalm 42:1–7 Psalm 46 Psalm 90:1–12 Psalm 121 Psalm 130 Psalm 139:1–11 Psalm 23 Psalm 27 Psalm 106:1–5 Psalm 116
New Testament
John 5:24–27 (He who believes has everlasting life) John 6:37–40 (All that the Father gives me will come to you) John 10:11–16 (I am the good shepherd) John 11:21–27 (I am the resurrection and the life) John 14:1–6 (In my Father’s house are many rooms) Romans 8:14–19, 34–35, 37–39 (The glory of the Lord shall be revealed) 1 Corinthians 15:20–26, 35–37, 42–44, 53–58 (The imperishable body) 2 Corinthians 4:16–5:9 (Things that are unseen are eternal) 1 John 3:1–2 (We shall be like him) Revelation 7:9–17 (God will wipe away every tear) Revelation 21:2-7 (Behold, I make all things new)
Classic poetry
"Holy Sonnet X," by John Donne from "Little Gidding," by T.S. Eliot "Nothing Gold Can Stay," by Robert Frost "The Window," by Rumi "Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep," by Mary Frye "The River And Its Waves Are One," by Kabir "Solitude," by A.A. Milne "We Remember Them," by Jack Riemer and Sylvan Kamens "Farewell My Friends," by Rabindranath Tagore "Crossing the Bar," by Alfred Lord Tennnyson from "Song of Myself," by Walt Whitmana selection from “Song of the Open Road” by Walt Whitman
from "I Sing the Body Electric," by Walt Whitman from "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud," by William Wordsworth