When it came to picking wedding Bible verses for my own wedding, no way was I going to go with the obvious choices. I wanted to go deeper than just the old standbys, the ones that you hear at every ceremony. I wanted passages that talked about faith, commitment, and hardship.
So while I’m a huge fan of First Corinthians (how can you go wrong with “Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love”?) this selection of wedding bible verses is for those of you who want more unusual readings to draw from. They come from the APW staff, and APW readers (even more verses can be found on this open thread), and they contain a dazzling array of choices.
Related: Quotes about love and marriage to use at your wedding
And all these Bible verses about marriage go well with the classics.
Wedding Bible Verses
WEdding Bible Verses (Hebrew Bible)
Ruth 1:16-17: But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
Micah 6:8: This is what the Lord requires of you: Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.
RELATED: THE BEST LOVE POEMS FOR YOUR WEDDING
Psalm 92, 12-15: The righteous flourish like the palm tree,
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap,
showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Song of Soloman 8:6-7: My beloved speaks and says to me:
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
it would be utterly scorned.
Psalm 24 8-10: O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him have no want.
The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
hosea 2:16-23: “A new day is coming,” announces the Lord. Israel will call me ‘my husband.’ She will no longer call me ‘my master.’ She will no longer speak about the gods that are named Baal. She will not pray to them for help anymore. At that time I will make a covenant for the good of my people. I will make it with the wild animals and the birds in the sky. It will also be made with the creatures that move along the ground. I will remove bows and swords and other weapons of war from the land. Then my people can lie down in safety. I will make Israel my own. She will belong to me forever. I will do to her what is right and fair. I will love her tenderly. I will be faithful to her. And she will recognize me as the Lord. “So at that time I will answer her,” announces the Lord. “I will command the skies to send rain on the earth. Then the earth will produce grain, olive oil and fresh wine. And Israel will be called Jezreel. That’s because I will answer her prayers. I will plant her in the land for myself. I will show my love to the one I called Not My Loved One. I will say, ‘You are my people’ to those who were called Not My People. And they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
isaiah 62:4-5: People will not call you Deserted anymore. They will no longer name your land Empty. Instead, you will be called One the Lord Delights In. Your land will be named Married One. That’s because the Lord will take delight in you. And your land will be married. As a young man marries a young woman, so your Builder will marry you. As a groom is happy with his bride, so your God will be full of joy over you.
psalm 121: I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
song of songs 2:8-17: The voice of my beloved!
Look! He’s coming,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Look, there he stands behind our wall,
looking through the windows,
gazing through the lattice.
My beloved spoke to me:
Get up, my darling, my beautiful one, and come on.
Look! Winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
Blossoms have appeared in the land.
The season of songbirds has arrived,
and cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.
The fig tree has produced its fruit,
the grapevines have blossomed and exude their fragrance.
Get up, my darling, my beautiful one, and come on.
My dove, in the hidden places of the rocks,
in the secret places of the cliffs,
show me your form, and let me hear your voice.
For your voice is pleasant,
and your shape is lovely.
Catch the foxes for us,
the little foxes that destroy the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.
My beloved belongs to me and I belong to him.
He is the one who shepherds his flock among the lilies.
Until the day breaks[h] and the shadows flee,
turn around, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle or a young stag
on the rugged mountains.
Longer Hebrew Bible Verses About Marriage
isaiah 32: Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
deuteronomy 11:10-15: Since the land that you are about to enter to inherit isn’t like the land of Egypt that you just left, where you plant a seed and irrigate it with your feet like a vegetable garden. Instead, the land that you are crossing over to inherit is a land of hills and valleys that drinks water supplied by rain from heaven, a land about which the Lord your God is always concerned, because the eyes of the Lord are continuously on it throughout the entire year. If you carefully observe the commands that I’m giving you today—that is, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul—then he will send rain on the land in its season (the early and latter rains) and you’ll gather grain, new wine, and oil. He will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you’ll eat and be satisfied.
song of songs 1:9-17: I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.
Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.
We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.
While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes.
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.
The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.
Christian Bible Verses About Love
romans 12:9-16: “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.”
john 15:9-17: As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.
colossians 3:12-17: You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. Christ’s message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.
romans 12:9-18: Love must be sincere. Look away from what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
1 john 4,7-19: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.
matthew 5:1-12: When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.” Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
ephesians 4:1-3: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
What are your favorite bible quotes about love? What wedding Bible verses did you use in your ceremony?