be gathered to one's fathers

English

WOTD – 11 July 2020

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 נֶאֶסְפוּ אֶל-אֲבוֹתָיו (neʾespū ʾel-ʾăḇôṯâw) and Koine Greek προσετέθη πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας αὐτοῦ (prosetéthē pròs toùs patéras autoû, Apocrypha).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /biː ˈɡæðəd tuː wʌnz ˈfɑːðəz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bi ˈɡæðɚd tə wʌnz ˈfɑðɚz/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: be ga‧thered to one's fa‧thers

Verb

be gathered to one's fathers (third-person singular simple present is gathered to one's fathers, present participle being gathered to one's fathers, simple past was gathered to one's fathers, past participle been gathered to one's fathers)

1. (biblical and literary, dated) To be buried together with one's forebears; hence, to die.

   Synonyms: be gathered to one's people, be laid unto one's fathers, be put to one's fathers, (all obsolete) sleep with one's fathers; see also Thesaurus:die

   • [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:

     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.]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Maccabees 2:69, column 1:

     So he bleſſed them, and was gathered to his fathers.

   • 1795 January, “Repentance, Conversion, and Dying Experience of a Poor Prostitute”, in The Evangelical Magazine, London: […] T. Chapman, […], →OCLC, page 8:

     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!

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 1909, Edward H. Chadwick, “James Robert Means”, in Chadwick’s History of Shelby County, Indiana, Indianapolis, Ind.: B. F. Bowen & Company, →OCLC, page 915:

     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.

   • 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:

     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?

   • 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):

     [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).

Translations

to be buried together with one's forebears — see also die

Hebrew: נֶאֱסָף אֶל אֲבוֹתָיו (he) m (ne'esaf el avotav) Hungarian: megtér őseihez Russian: отпра́виться к праотца́м (otprávitʹsja k praotcám, literally “to depart to one’s forefathers”)

References

1. “to be gathered to one’s fathers, phrase” under “father, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2016; “to be gathered to one’s fathers” under “gather, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1898.