Question: why you say god bless you after a sneeze

title: God bless you
text: God bless you ( variants include God bless or bless you ) is a common English expression , used to wish a person blessings in various situations , especially as a response to a sneeze , and also , when parting or writing a valediction . This Phrase has been used long time ago in the eastern literature . Somadeva 's `` Brihatkathamanjari '' which it self is based on earlier long lost book , Gunadhya 's `` Brihatkatha '' has a story in Book 6 ( Madanamanchuka lambaka ) under the story `` Princess and the merchant 's son who saved his life '' . In this story the cursed prince is saved by the merchant 's son as the prince is supposed to die after 100 sneezes . Merchant 's son who happen to hear the curse , knows the cure too . He has to utter `` God bless you '' on every sneeze , and thus he saves the prince . The phrase has been used in the Hebrew Bible by Jews ( cf . Numbers 6 : 24 ) , and by Christians , since the time of the early Church as a benediction , as well as a means of bidding a person Godspeed . Many clergy , when blessing their congregants individually or as a group , use the phrase `` God bless you '' .