Their name liveth for evermore

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"Their name liveth for evermore" inscribed on the Stone of Remembrance at the Buttes New British Cemetery, in Belgium CWGC - Stone of Remembrance.jpg
"Their name liveth for evermore" inscribed on the Stone of Remembrance at the Buttes New British Cemetery, in Belgium

"Their name liveth for evermore" is a phrase from the Jewish book of Book of Sirach, chapter 44, verse 14, widely inscribed on war memorials since the First World War. [1] Although the Book of Sirach is not included in the Hebrew Bible, and therefore is not considered scripture in Judaism, it is included in the Septuagint and the Old Testament of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. In the Protestant traditions, historically, and still in continuation today in Lutheranism and Anglicanism, the Book of Sirach is an intertestamental text found in the Apocrypha, though it is regarded as noncanonical. [2]

Contents

Context

In full, verse 14 reads "Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore." [3] The chapter begins with the line "Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us." [4] The full text of verse 14 was suggested by Rudyard Kipling [5] as an appropriate inscription for memorials after the First World War, with the intention that it could be carved into the Stone of Remembrance proposed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Imperial (now Commonwealth) war cemeteries. Lutyens was initially opposed, concerned that someone might inappropriately add an "s" after "peace" ("peaces" being a homophone of "pieces"), but relented when the phrase was cut down to just the second part of the verse, omitting the reference to bodies resting in peace. [6]

Kipling's proposal based on Acts 15

Rudyard Kipling also suggested the memorial phrase "Known unto God" for gravestones marking the resting place of unidentified or unknown soldiers, [7] possibly taken from Acts 15, verse 18—"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world". [8] The memorial phrase "lest we forget" is taken from Kipling's poem "Recessional"—"Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet / Lest we forget—lest we forget!" [9]

Notes

  1. ↑ "BBC - History - Historic Figures: Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)".
  2. ↑ Readings from the Apocrypha. Forward Movement Publications. 1981. p. 5.
  3. ↑ "Ecclesiasticus 44:14 KJV "Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore."".
  4. ↑ "Ecclesiasticus 44:1 KJV "Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us."".
  5. ↑ Booth, Howard J. (September 2011). The Cambridge Companion to Rudyard Kipling. ISBN   9781107493636.
  6. ↑ Scates, Bruce (2006-03-28). Return to Gallipoli: Walking the Battlefields of the Great War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-68151-3.
  7. ↑ Scates, Bruce (28 March 2006). Return to Gallipoli: Walking the Battlefields of the Great War. ISBN   9780521681513.
  8. ↑ "ACTS 15:18 KJV "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world."".
  9. ↑ "Recessional by Rudyard Kipling". 29 June 2023.

References

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