Daily Christian Journey

Bible Verses About Marriage

By Emily Davis

Marriage is one of the first things Scripture talks about and one of the things it returns to again and again. The Bible presents it as a covenant: a promise made before God to love, honor, and stay. It also treats marriage honestly. The verses that follow celebrate joy and companionship, and they speak just as plainly about patience, forgiveness, and the daily work of loving another imperfect person.

Whether you are engaged, newly married, or well into decades together, these passages can serve as a shared reading. Many couples read one aloud at the table or before bed and talk about what it asks of each of them this week. A verse does not fix a marriage by itself, but a regular habit of returning to the same words, together, tends to soften hearts and open conversations that would otherwise stay closed.

You will notice that the best-known passage, Paul's description of love in 1 Corinthians 13, is written in a version that says "charity", the older English word for love. It describes love not as a feeling but as a way of acting: patient, kind, slow to anger, and unwilling to keep score. Read that way, it is less a wedding reading than a daily checklist for how to treat the person across from you.

If your marriage is struggling, please know that seeking counsel from a pastor or a qualified marriage counselor is a sign of commitment, not failure. And if you are ever unsafe in your home, put your safety first and reach out to someone who can help. Quotations here are from the King James Version, and the articles below offer practical, faith-centered guidance.

A short prayer

Lord, thank you for the person beside me. Make us patient with each other, quick to forgive, and generous with kindness. Bind our hearts together with your love, and keep us faithful in the small things as well as the large. Amen.

Bible verses for this topic

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Genesis 2:24 (KJV)

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (KJV)

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 (KJV)

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (KJV)

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Ephesians 5:25 (KJV)

Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Ephesians 5:33 (KJV)

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.

Proverbs 18:22 (KJV)

And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Colossians 3:14 (KJV)

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly despised.

Song of Solomon 8:7 (KJV)

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:2-3 (KJV)

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Mark 10:9 (KJV)

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), which is in the public domain.

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