Bible Verses about Marriage
Introduction
Marriage is one of the Bible's oldest and most layered subjects. It appears on the second page of Scripture and runs all the way to the final chapters of Revelation, where the relationship between God and his people is described as a wedding. That arc is not accidental. The Bible uses marriage to say something about covenant, about love, about sacrifice, and ultimately about the relationship between Christ and the church.
At the same time, the Bible's picture of marriage is not idealized. Scripture includes stories of marriages marked by betrayal, barrenness, rivalry, and grief alongside stories of faithfulness and beauty. It is honest about how hard marriage is and how much grace it requires. These verses speak to those preparing for marriage, those in the middle of it, those whose marriages have been wounded, and those trying to understand what God designed marriage to be in the first place.
What the Bible Means When It Talks About Marriage
Marriage in Scripture is presented first as a creation ordinance. It is something God established before the fall, rooted in the complementary nature of male and female and the deep human need for companionship and covenant. The Hebrew word for the bond between husband and wife carries the weight of leaving, cleaving, and becoming one, which is a comprehensive union of life, not merely a legal arrangement.
The New Testament builds on this foundation and gives it a new dimension. Paul describes marriage as a mystery that points to the relationship between Christ and the church. This does not make marriage a merely symbolic institution. It means that the faithfulness, sacrifice, and love that marriage requires are grounded in something larger than the two people involved. The covenant between husband and wife reflects and participates in the covenant between God and his people.
Bible Verses About the Origin and Purpose of Marriage
Genesis 2:18 — ("The LORD God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.'") The first thing declared not good in Scripture is human solitude. Marriage begins as God's answer to aloneness — not a concession to human weakness but a deliberate act of creation.
Genesis 2:24 — ("That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.") The three movements (leaving, cleaving, becoming one) define the structure of marriage. Each is significant. Leaving establishes a new primary loyalty. Cleaving describes the covenant bond. One flesh describes the comprehensive union that results.
Genesis 1:27 — ("So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.") The differentiation of male and female is presented as part of the image of God. Marriage brings these two together in a union that reflects something of the relational nature of God himself.
Proverbs 18:22 — ("He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.") Marriage is described as a good thing — something that carries divine favor. The finding language suggests discovery rather than mere arrangement, implying that the person matters, not just the institution.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 — ("Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this fleeting life that God has given you under the sun.") The Preacher's counsel is surprisingly direct. Enjoy your wife. Love her. The enjoyment of marriage is not a distraction from spiritual life. It is part of what God gives under the sun.
Bible Verses About Love in Marriage
Song of Solomon 8:6-7 — ("Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.") The Song of Solomon is Scripture's most extended celebration of married love. The love described here is passionate, exclusive, and indestructible. Its intensity is compared to death itself — it cannot be overcome or extinguished.
Proverbs 5:18-19 — ("May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.") Scripture does not ignore the physical dimension of marriage. This passage celebrates erotic love within the covenant bond with directness and joy.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 — ("Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.") Though written about love in general, these verses describe the kind of love that makes marriage work. Patient, kind, not self-seeking, not easily angered. Each phrase names something marriage demands and something grace makes possible.
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.'") Ruth speaks these words to her mother-in-law, not a romantic partner, but the quality of commitment they describe captures the essence of covenantal love. Many couples read these words at their weddings because they name the kind of loyalty marriage requires.
Song of Solomon 3:4 — ("Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go.") The language of holding and not letting go describes the tenacity of love that sustains a marriage through the seasons when everything else is pulling apart.
Bible Verses About Marriage as Covenant
Malachi 2:14 — ("The LORD is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.") God is named as the witness to the marriage covenant. This elevates marriage beyond a private arrangement. It is made before God and held accountable to him.
Ezekiel 16:8 — ("Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.") God describes his relationship with Israel using the language of marriage and covenant. The spreading of the garment is an act of betrothal. The covenant is God's initiative, not Israel's.
Proverbs 2:17 — ("Who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.") The marriage covenant is described as made before God. Breaking it is not merely a personal failure. It is a breach of a covenant that involves God as witness and guarantor.
Hebrews 13:4 — ("Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.") The call to honor marriage is universal — it applies to those inside and outside the institution. The marriage bed is to be kept pure because marriage itself is something God takes seriously.
Bible Verses About Husbands and Wives
Ephesians 5:25-26 — ("Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.") The standard Paul sets for husbands is not cultural preference or natural inclination. It is the self-giving love of Christ for the church — a love that serves, sacrifices, and works for the flourishing of the other.
Ephesians 5:22-24 — ("Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.") This passage has generated more debate than almost any other in the New Testament. Read in context, the submission described is voluntary, patterned after the church's relationship to Christ, and immediately preceded by the call for mutual submission in verse 21. The husband's headship is defined entirely by sacrificial service, not by authority for its own sake.
1 Peter 3:7 — ("Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.") Peter's counsel to husbands is to live with understanding and to treat their wives with honor. The phrase heirs together of the gracious gift of life establishes equality of spiritual standing even within differentiated roles. Failure to honor a wife has spiritual consequences — it hinders prayer.
Colossians 3:18-19 — ("Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.") The parallel commands are instructive. Wives are called to a posture of respect. Husbands are specifically warned against harshness. Both commands address the temptations most characteristic of each role.
1 Corinthians 7:3-4 — ("The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.") Paul's teaching on physical intimacy in marriage is strikingly mutual. Authority over one's body is given to the other. Neither partner is to deprive the other except by mutual consent for a season of prayer.
Bible Verses About Faithfulness in Marriage
Proverbs 31:10-11 — ("A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.") The relationship described here is built on trust. The husband's confidence in his wife — and by implication her trust in him — is presented as one of the most valuable things a marriage can produce.
Malachi 2:15-16 — ("So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. 'The man who hates and divorces his wife,' says the LORD God of Israel, 'does violence to the one he should protect.'") Faithfulness in marriage is not merely a virtue. Its absence is described as violence. The language is strong and deliberate.
Proverbs 12:4 — ("A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.") The comparison is stark. A faithful, honorable spouse is presented as something that elevates and honors. The alternative is described in terms of slow destruction.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 — ("To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.") Paul transmits what he understands as a direct command from the Lord regarding the permanence of marriage. The default position is reconciliation, not separation.
Bible Verses About Marriage Pointing to Something Greater
Ephesians 5:31-32 — ("For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church.") Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 and reveals that the one flesh union of marriage has always been pointing toward something larger. The marriage between a man and a woman is a living sign of the relationship between Christ and the church.
Revelation 19:7 — ("Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.") The final vision of Scripture culminates in a wedding. The entire biblical story — from the first marriage in the garden to the last marriage of the Lamb — is framed by covenant union.
Isaiah 54:5 — ("For your Maker is your husband — the LORD Almighty is his name — the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.") God describes himself as Israel's husband. The covenant between God and his people is modeled on the covenant of marriage — exclusive, faithful, and marked by steadfast love.
Hosea 2:19-20 — ("I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.") God's promise to Israel is framed as a new betrothal. The qualities he names — righteousness, justice, love, compassion, faithfulness — are the qualities that define the marriage covenant at its best.
John 3:29 — ("The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.") John the Baptist describes his relationship to Jesus using the image of the bridegroom and his friend. He is content to step back because the one the bride belongs to has arrived. The image of Jesus as bridegroom runs through the New Testament as a persistent motif.
Bible Verses About Marriage and Difficulty
1 Corinthians 7:28 — ("But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.") Paul is refreshingly honest. Marriage involves trouble. He does not say this to discourage it but to prepare those who enter it for what is real.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 — ("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.") The practical case for partnership is made simply and powerfully. The value of marriage is in part the value of having someone who helps you up when you fall.
Romans 15:7 — ("Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.") Written to the church, this verse applies with particular force to marriage. Christ's acceptance of us — unconditional, prior to our improvement — is the model for the acceptance that sustains a marriage through decades of imperfection.
Colossians 3:13 — ("Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.") The word translated bear with means to put up with, to endure patiently. Marriage requires this. Forgiveness is not optional — the standard is the Lord's forgiveness of us, which sets an impossibly high bar that grace alone can meet.
A Simple Way to Pray These Verses
Marriage requires more grace than most people expect. These verses can become prayers for those inside it.
Genesis 2:24 — ("They become one flesh.") Response: "Remind us that we are building something together that is larger than either of us alone."
Ephesians 5:25 — ("Love your wives, just as Christ loved the church.") Response: "I cannot love this way on my own. Give me a love that comes from somewhere beyond me."
Colossians 3:13 — ("Forgive as the Lord forgave you.") Response: "I have been forgiven more than I have ever been wronged. Let me remember that today."
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Bible say about marriage? The Bible presents marriage as a covenant relationship established by God at creation, involving a man and woman who leave their families, commit to each other exclusively, and become one flesh. It is grounded in companionship, covenant love, and mutual faithfulness. The New Testament adds the dimension of marriage as a sign of the relationship between Christ and the church — giving it a significance that extends beyond the two people involved.
What is the purpose of marriage according to the Bible? Scripture points to several purposes. Marriage addresses human aloneness (Genesis 2:18). It provides a context for covenant love, physical intimacy, and the raising of children. It reflects the image of God in the union of male and female. And according to Paul, it is a living picture of the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32). These purposes are complementary, not competing.
What does the Bible say about love in marriage? The Bible presents love in marriage as covenant commitment that goes beyond feeling. It is patient and kind (1 Corinthians 13), self-giving rather than self-seeking (Ephesians 5:25), and capable of enduring difficulty (Song of Solomon 8:6-7). It also celebrates the physical and emotional dimensions of married love without embarrassment, as in the Song of Solomon and Proverbs 5.
What does the Bible say about divorce? Jesus permits divorce in cases of sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9), and Paul allows separation when an unbelieving spouse leaves (1 Corinthians 7:15). But the consistent direction of Scripture is toward the permanence of marriage and the pursuit of reconciliation where possible. Malachi 2:16 describes the breaking of the marriage covenant in terms of violence. The biblical picture is of a God who takes the covenant of marriage with great seriousness while also providing grace for those whose marriages have broken.
Is marriage required for a Christian? No. Paul speaks positively about singleness as a gift that allows for undivided devotion to God (1 Corinthians 7:7-8, 32-35). Jesus himself was unmarried. Marriage is honored and celebrated in Scripture, but it is not presented as necessary for a complete or faithful human life. Both marriage and singleness are called vocations — ways of living out the covenant love of God in different forms.
