Bible verses about marriage: 17 passages for building a life together

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

The first words about marriage in the Bible, quoted later by both Jesus and Paul. Leaving comes before cleaving: a new household takes priority over the old ones.

and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Jesus answers a question about divorce, asked to test him, by going back to creation. His focus is not on when a marriage may end but on what God intended it to be.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Written about companionship in general, which is why it fits marriage so well. Many couples read the cord of three strands as the two of them with God woven in.

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

Proverbs is honest about hard marriages elsewhere, but here it calls a good one what it is: a gift and a sign of God’s favour.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Paul’s instructions to husbands and wives begin with this line, spoken to every believer. Whatever else the passage says, it opens with humility on both sides.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her

The standard for a husband is not control but sacrifice. Christ gave himself up; that is the measure.

Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

Fellow heirs means equal standing before God. Peter even ties how a husband treats his wife to whether his prayers are hindered.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Clothe yourselves is a daily action, like getting dressed. Compassion and patience are chosen each morning, not felt once at the altar.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Paul was not writing about marriage, but few verses do more for one. Two people each looking out for the other is a marriage where nobody is forgotten.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Read at countless weddings, but written to a quarrelling church. It is most useful in the ordinary weeks, long after the ceremony.

“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,

Paul quotes Psalm 4:4. Anger itself is not the sin; letting it settle in overnight is where it turns to bitterness.

My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

Three habits in one line, in the right order. Most arguments go wrong at the first one: we start talking before we have finished listening.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Tone changes outcomes. The same words said gently or harshly can end an argument or start a worse one.

Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

The pattern for forgiving a spouse is how God forgave you: fully, and before you had earned it.

Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all. Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.

A seal was worn on a cord or ring and marked who you belonged to. The Bible has a whole book celebrating married love and desire, without embarrassment.

Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Honour here means treating marriage as weighty and worth protecting, from the outside and from within.

A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he lacks nothing of value. She brings him good and not harm all the days of her life.

The opening of an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the next Hebrew letter. The word for noble character is also used of strength and valour.