Ashes to ashes, dust to dust (Genesis 2:7, 3:19)

Picture description: Cemetery in Manila, Philippines
Picture copyright: V. Gilbert and Arlisle F. Beers

bible verse

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen 3:19)

origin and application

In the Burial section of the first English Book of Common Prayer completed in 1548 is this line: “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” This phrase does not come directly from the Bible, though it is derived from it.
In funerals where burial is practiced, bodies are buried in the ground because this is where we come from according to the Bible. God created Adam from dust. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which God forbade, God banished them from the Garden of Eden. Since then, people could no longer enjoy the free fruit in the garden but now need to work hard in search of food. This is what God said to Adam, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen 3:19)