12 Bible Verses for a Wedding

A wedding is a covenant — and covenant is God's language. These verses belong in vows, programs, toasts, and the quiet prayer the couple prays the night before. Read them slowly; they're the foundation a marriage stands on.

1. 1.

   1 Corinthians 13:4–7

   "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

   The wedding passage. But notice — every word here is a verb. Love isn't a feeling on the wedding day; it's a thousand decisions over the marriage.

2. 2.

   Genesis 2:24

   "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

   The first wedding sentence God ever spoke. Leave, cleave, become one — in that order, on purpose.

3. 3.

   Ecclesiastes 4:9–12

   "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

   Two becomes a stronger one. Three — when God is the third strand — becomes nearly unbreakable. Build your marriage as a threefold cord.

4. 4.

   Song of Solomon 8:6–7

   "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised."

   The most romantic passage in Scripture. Love that nothing can drown. That's the vow.

5. 5.

   Matthew 19:6

   "So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."

   God is the one doing the joining. The couple stays married by the strength of that, not their own.

6. 6.

   Colossians 3:14

   "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

   Above patience, above kindness, above all the other virtues — love. It's the thread that holds the whole thing together.

7. 7.

   Ephesians 5:25

   "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."

   The pattern for husbands is the cross. Loving the way Jesus loved the church — that's the bar.

8. 8.

   Proverbs 18:22

   "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD."

   A spouse from God is favor, not luck. Treat her — treat him — as a gift you didn't earn.

9. 9.

   Romans 12:10

   "Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."

   Honor first. Affection second. Marriage that lasts puts the other person ahead by reflex.

10. 10.

    1 Peter 4:8

    "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins."

    You'll need love that covers — because every marriage has things to cover for. Forgiveness is the daily oxygen.

11. 11.

    Jeremiah 31:3

    "The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."

    His love is the model for the love you're entering. Everlasting. Kind. Drawing the other person toward Him through it.

12. 12.

    1 Corinthians 13:13

    "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

    Three things outlast the wedding day. Build your marriage on all three — love most of all.

May the Lord bless your marriage all the days of it. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.