be gathered to one's fathers
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /biː ˈɡæðəd tuː wʌnz ˈfɑːðəz/
ipa: /bi ˈɡæðɚd tə wʌnz ˈfɑðɚz/
Forms: form: is gathered to one's fathers
form: being gathered to one's fathers
form: was gathered to one's fathers
form: been gathered to one's fathers
Etymology: From various passages in the Bible, including Judges 2:10, and 1 Maccabees 2:69 in the Apocrypha (see the quotations), from
From Biblical Hebrew נֶאֱסַף אֶל־אֲבוֹתָיו (neʾĕsap ʾel-ʾăḇôṯâw) and Koine Greek προσετέθη πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας αὐτοῦ (prosetéthē pròs toùs patéras autoû, Apocrypha).
Senses: examples: text: And alſo all that generacion was gathered vnto their fathers, and an other generacion aroſe after them, which nether knewe the Lord, nor yet the workes, which he had done for Iſraél.
ref: [1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Ivdges II:10, folio 109, recto:
text: So he bleſſed them, and was gathered to his fathers.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Maccabees 2:69, column 1:
text: How many prayers, offered up by ſerious and regenerated believers for their ungodly children, have been anſwered years after the humble petitioners have been gathered to their fathers!
ref: 1795 January, “Repentance, Conversion, and Dying Experience of a Poor Prostitute”, in The Evangelical Magazine, London: […] T. Chapman, […], →OCLC, page 8:
text: Besides the probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble; and he is then gathered to his fathers,—to be taxed no more.
ref: 1820 January, [Sydney Smith], “Art. III. Statistical Annals of the United States of America. By Adam Seybert. 4to. Philadelphia, 1818. [book review]”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, volume XXXIII, number LXV, Edinburgh: Printed by David Willison, for Archibald Constable and Company; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, →OCLC, page 78:
text: We have seen how William the Conqueror has been gathered to his fathers. Usual pageantries ensued: loud praises bestowed upon the departed monarch by those who enjoyed his bounty or profited by his patronage.
ref: 1864, Francis Palgrave, “The Events Consequent upon the Accession of Rufus in England, and of Robert in Normandy”, in [Francis Turner Palgrave], editor, The History of Normandy and of England, volumes IV (William Rufus—Accession of Henry Beauclerc), London: Macmillan & Co., […], →OCLC, § 1, page 1:
text: In the course of years this worthy couple were gathered to their fathers and headlines on old tombs in the Means cemetery indicate that they found a resting place there many years ago.
ref: 1909, Edward H. Chadwick, “James Robert Means”, in Chadwick’s History of Shelby County, Indiana, Indianapolis, Ind.: B. F. Bowen & Company, →OCLC, page 915:
text: I am well over sixty and must expect to be gathered to my fathers sooner rather than later. Who will then be left to carry on the family traditions in a worthy manner?
ref: 2004, chapter 24, in Vladimir Kean, transl., Beyond the Golden Lotus: Chin P’ing Mei, London; New York, N.Y.: Kegan Paul, →ISBN, page 303:
text: [T]he offender is to be "cut off" (either the offender's line of descendants will cease, or the offender is barred from "being gathered to his fathers" in the afterlife).
ref: 2005, Victor P. Hamilton, “A Holiness Manifesto: Leviticus 17–27”, in Handbook on the Pentateuch, 2nd (ebook) edition, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, Baker Publishing Group, published 29 April 2015, →ISBN, part 3 (Leviticus):
topics: biblical
lifestyle
religion
synonyms: word: be gathered to one's people
word: be laid unto one's fathers
word: be put to one's fathers
word: sleep with one's fathers
word: assume room temperature
word: auger in
word: be called home
word: be gathered to one's fathers
word: be no more
word: be with Jesus
word: be with the Lord
word: bite the big one
word: bite the biscuit
word: bite the dust
word: buy the farm
word: buy it
word: cark it
word: cash in
word: cash in one's chips
word: check out
word: close one's eyes for the last time
word: code
word: conk out
word: croak
word: cross over
word: cross rainbow bridge
word: cross the Great Divide
word: cross the Styx
word: decease
word: decompose
word: dematerialize
word: depart
word: disincarnate
word: draw one's last breath
word: drop off the hooks
word: exit
word: expire
word: flatline
word: forfare
word: get to be like the one
word: give one's all
word: give up the ghost
word: go for a burton
word: go gentle into that good night
word: go out
word: go over to the majority
word: go the way of all flesh
word: go the way of the dinosaurs
word: go the way of the dodo
word: go the way of the dodo bird
word: go to glory
word: go to one's reward
word: go west
word: hand in one's checks
word: hand in one's dinner pail
word: hop the twig
word: join the choir invisible
word: keel over
word: kick the bucket
word: kick off
word: knock off
word: liquidate
word: lose my life for Jesus Christ
word: lose the number of one's mess
word: meet one's doom
word: meet one's end
word: meet one's maker
word: pass
word: pass away
word: pass in one's checks
word: pass in one's marble
word: pass on
word: pass over
word: pass the river
word: pay nature's debt
word: pay the debt of nature
word: peg out
word: perish
word: pop off
word: pop one's clogs
word: shuffle off this mortal coil
word: sink
word: sleep with one's fathers
word: slip away
word: snuff it
word: succumb
word: take a dirt nap
word: turn up one's toes
word: yield up the ghost
glosses: To be buried together with one's forebears; hence, to die.
wikipedia: 1 Maccabees