Bible Verses For Wedding ceremonies, cards and toasts help a couple begin married life with God’s words spoken over them. These passages speak of patient love, faithful promises and the strength of two joined with the Lord. Choose one that sounds like the two of you and let it be read aloud on the day.
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)
Paul’s description of patient, kind, enduring love is among the most read passages at weddings.
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
Ruth 1:16-17 (KJV)
Ruth’s pledge to go where Naomi goes is often borrowed for vows of lifelong loyalty.
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 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 utterly be contemned.
Song of Solomon 8:6-7 (KJV)
Love is pictured as strong as death, a flame many waters cannot quench.
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. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (KJV)
Two are better than one, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken, a favourite image for Christian marriage.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Colossians 3:12-14 (KJV)
Put on kindness, meekness and forgiveness, and above all charity, the bond of perfectness.
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)
Lowliness, patience and forbearing one another in love make a practical charge for a new couple.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Romans 12:10 (KJV)
Kindly affection and preferring one another in honour describe everyday love in a home.
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 (KJV)
Fervent love covers a multitude of sins, a good word for the years of forgiving ahead.
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1 John 4:7 (KJV)
Love is of God, so a couple’s love for each other can reflect His own.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Proverbs 3:3-4 (KJV)
Binding mercy and truth about the neck promises favour in the sight of God and man.
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Psalms 127:1 (KJV)
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain; a prayer to put God at the centre.
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
Psalms 34:3 (KJV)
An invitation to magnify the Lord together fits a couple beginning shared worship.
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
Song of Solomon 2:10-12 (KJV)
The beloved calls, rise up and come away, for winter is past and the season of singing has come.
Let all your things be done with charity.
1 Corinthians 16:14 (KJV)
Let all your things be done with charity, a short verse ideal for rings or cards.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
The priestly blessing is often spoken over the couple at the close of the ceremony.
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)
The words about two becoming one flesh are frequently read as the couple is joined.
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mark 10:9 (KJV)
Jesus’ words, what God hath joined together let not man put asunder, often seal the vows.
The simplest place for Scripture is the ceremony itself. Many couples ask a friend or family member to read one longer passage, such as 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 or Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, and let the officiant build a short message around it. Ruth 1:16-17 and Song of Solomon 8:6-7 can also shape the wording of personal vows if you want your promises to echo the language of Scripture.
Verses work well beyond the service too. A short line like 1 Corinthians 16:14 fits on an invitation, a ring engraving or a welcome sign. Guests writing cards can pick Numbers 6:24-26 as a blessing, and a parent giving a toast might close with Colossians 3:14. Printing the chosen reference in the order of service helps guests look it up later.
Finally, keep one verse for yourselves. Read it together the night before the wedding, pray over it, and return to it on hard days in the years ahead. Psalms 127:1 is a good reminder that a home is built best when the Lord is invited to build it.
Genesis 2:24 and 1 Corinthians 13 are the two most commonly read passages at Christian weddings, and both work well read slowly, with pauses, rather than rushed through as a formality. If you are the one reading, it is worth practicing beforehand — these verses carry more weight when they are not rushed.
Malachi 2:14’s language of covenant works well printed in a wedding program or referenced directly in vows, since it names the commitment being made in terms more binding than most modern wedding language uses.
If you want something shorter for a program cover or invitation, several of the twenty verses above run under twenty words and still carry the full weight of the passage.
Consider choosing one verse from this list specifically to revisit on future anniversaries, not just on the wedding day. Many couples find that a verse chosen for the ceremony means something different — often something more — five or ten years in.
Ruth 1:16 — “whither thou goest, I will go” — works well woven directly into personal vows rather than read as a standalone passage, since its language of chosen loyalty translates naturally into a promise spoken to a specific person.
If you are struggling to find your own words for vows, borrowing the structure of a verse like this one, rather than quoting it directly, often produces something that feels both personal and grounded in something older than the two of you.
If the ceremony only has room for one reading, most couples do better choosing the verse that describes the relationship they actually have, rather than the most popular or most traditional option. A verse chosen for honesty tends to age better than one chosen for how it sounds.
The last week before a wedding is usually full of phone calls, seating charts and last-minute errands. Setting aside fifteen minutes a day to read together can keep your hearts steady. This plan uses Bible verses for wedding preparation that look past the ceremony to the marriage itself. Read the passage aloud, then each answer one simple question. Reading these Bible verses for wedding week side by side also gives you a calm quarter hour away from the checklist.
Among these Bible verses for wedding week, Day 7 may seem surprising, but John sees the holy city “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). Ending there reminds you both that your marriage is part of a much larger story of God’s faithfulness.
If one evening gets swallowed by preparations, simply pick up the next day. The aim is not a perfect record but a shared habit you can carry into married life. Couples who keep reading Bible verses for wedding week together often find it becomes the start of a lifelong routine of praying side by side.
Wedding planning can bring out tension no one expected. Budgets, guest lists and family traditions touch deep feelings, and couples sometimes find themselves arguing more in the months before the wedding than at any other time. Scripture has practical words for exactly these moments, and a handful of Bible verses for wedding planning can steady you when emotions run high.
Start with James 1:19: “let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” Before responding to a parent’s strong opinion, try repeating back what you heard. Proverbs 15:1 adds, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” A gentle tone can calm a conversation that is heading toward a quarrel.
When the two of you disagree with each other, Philippians 2:3-4 is a good guide: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Ask what matters most to your partner, and let some of your own preferences go.
Jesus spoke of a builder who sits down first and counts the cost before starting a tower (Luke 14:28). That is sound advice for a wedding too. Deciding on a budget together, before the bookings begin, keeps money from becoming a source of resentment. Keeping a few Bible verses for wedding decisions on the fridge or in a shared note can help you pause and pray before a big purchase or a tense family call.
These conversations are also early practice for marriage itself. Learning to listen, speak gently and put each other first now will serve you for decades. Bible verses for wedding preparation are not only for the ceremony; they are for the months of choices that lead up to it.
Not every wedding is simple joy. Some couples walk down the aisle missing a parent who has died. Others are joining two families together, with children from earlier marriages watching closely. Choosing Bible verses for wedding ceremonies in seasons like these can help you honor both the joy and the sorrow.
Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” A wedding can hold both. Some couples light a candle, leave a seat empty or say a short word of remembrance, then read Romans 12:15: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” It gives guests permission to feel what they feel.
Psalm 68:6 says, “God setteth the solitary in families.” For children entering a new household, that promise can be spoken over the whole family, not just the couple. Isaiah 43:19, “Behold, I will do a new thing,” is a hopeful word for a second marriage or a family making a fresh start. Many of the most tender Bible verses for wedding services in blended families are simple promises of belonging. Some couples include the children in the vows, promising to love and care for them too.
If grief is still very close, it is fine to keep these moments short and gentle. A pastor who knows your family can help you decide what fits. Thoughtful Bible verses for wedding days marked by loss remind everyone that God is near to the brokenhearted and present at the celebration. You may also find comfort in Scripture for seasons of comfort and sorrow.
Parents, officiants, friends and guests are often asked to pray for the bride and groom. The prayer below draws on several Bible verses for wedding blessings, including Philippians 1:9, Ephesians 3:17-19 and Romans 15:13. It can be read aloud at the ceremony or reception, or prayed quietly in the days before.
Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing these two together. We ask that their love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. Root them and ground them in your love, and help them grasp how wide and long and deep and high the love of Christ is. Teach them to be quick to forgive and slow to anger. Make their home a place of welcome and rest.
When hard days come, hold them close to you and to each other. Fill them with all joy and peace in believing, so that they abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. May their marriage point everyone who knows them to your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Feel free to adapt the words to the couple you know. Many people write the prayer inside a wedding card so the couple can read it again later. Paired with one of the Bible verses for wedding cards and blessings, a sincere prayer in a friend’s own handwriting is often the part that gets kept. For the teaching behind these themes, see what the Bible teaches about weddings and marriage.
Ecclesiastes 4 is a short stretch of wisdom about loneliness, and it ends up being read at a surprising number of ceremonies. ‘Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour’ (Ecclesiastes 4:9). The writer goes on to list small, practical gains: a friend lifts you when you fall, two people sleeping together stay warm, and two can stand against an attacker who would beat one. Nothing here is sentimental. It sounds like someone who has watched a lonely man work himself to the bone with no one to leave the money to.
Then comes the line that couples love: ‘a threefold cord is not quickly broken’ (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Many readers take the third strand to be God, and that is a fair reading, though the text itself does not say so. What it does say is that more strands make a stronger rope. That is worth remembering when you choose who stands up with you. Your groomsmen, bridesmaids, parents and the friend who will read this passage are part of the cord too. A marriage held by two exhausted people alone is more fragile than one surrounded by honest friends who will pray, show up with casseroles and tell the truth when asked.
Paul writes to the church at Colossae using the language of clothing. Take off the old habits, and ‘put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering’ (Colossians 3:12). Then he adds, ‘And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness’ (Colossians 3:14). The picture is of a person dressing in the morning, and that is exactly why it suits a wedding. Most of us spend hours choosing what to wear on the day itself. Paul reminds us what to wear on the thousand ordinary days after it.
Notice the verse between them. Verse 13 says, ‘Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.’ Paul assumes there will be quarrels. He does not picture a household with no friction, only one where forgiveness is practiced as routinely as getting dressed. A couple could copy these verses onto a card and tape it inside a closet door. It sounds odd, but it puts the instruction exactly where the day begins, between the alarm clock and the front door.
In the ancient Near East a seal was a small stone, carved with its owner’s mark and worn on a cord around the neck or on a ring. Pressed into clay, it meant this belongs to me and nobody else may open it. So when the bride in the Song says, ‘Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm’ (Song of Solomon 8:6), she is asking for something close and permanent, to be carried over his heart and visible in his hands.
The next lines are some of the boldest in Scripture. Love is ‘strong as death’, and ‘Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it’ (Song of Solomon 8:7). Death is the one thing no one argues with, and the poet puts love beside it. Floods in that region could wipe out a field overnight, so the image was not abstract.
If you are choosing a reading, this passage suits a quieter ceremony and a couple who want something intense but not flowery. It also carries a sober edge, because it admits that love will be tested. Read it without hurrying, and let the silence after it do some of the work.
Psalm 127 belongs to the songs sung by pilgrims climbing toward Jerusalem, and it is attributed to Solomon, a man who built a temple and a palace and knew what construction cost. ‘Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it’ (Psalm 127:1). The word house in Hebrew can mean a building, but it also means a family line, and the psalm slides easily between the two. A few verses later it talks about children as a gift.
For a couple, the verse is not an argument against effort. The builders in the psalm are still laboring, and so are the watchmen on the walls. What the writer refuses is the idea that careful work alone secures a home. You can plan the budget, choose the neighborhood and still wake at night wondering if you have done enough. The psalm gently moves that worry to where it can be handled: ask for his help in the building, and then work.
A short prayer in plain words might serve. Lord, we are laying the first stones of a home. Teach us to build with patience, and keep us from supposing that our own cleverness is the foundation. Amen. Read it at the rehearsal dinner if there is room for one quiet moment between the toasts. Some families go further and carry the psalm into the new home. One couple I heard about wrote the verse on a beam before the drywall went up in their first house, where only they and the carpenter would ever know it was there. That small act says something honest about marriage: most of what holds a home together is out of sight, and it is worth asking for help with the parts nobody will ever photograph.
Keep exploring with these related pages: Bible Verses About Wedding, Bible Verses About Faith, Bible Verses About Hope, Bible Verses About Love, Bible Verses About Strength, Bible Verses About Prayer, Bible Verses About Encouragement, Bible Verses About Peace, Bible Verses About Healing, Bible Verses About Wisdom and Bible Verses About Trust.
Helpful free resources for further study include Bible Gateway, Blue Letter Bible and Bible Hub.
The simplest place for Scripture is the ceremony itself. Many couples ask a friend or family member to read one longer passage, such as 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 or Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, and let the officiant build a short message around it.
This page brings together 26 King James Version references about wedding, drawn from 18 different books of the Bible.
Beyond the references highlighted on this page, wedding appears throughout Scripture in books such as 1 Corinthians, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Numbers; this collection focuses on some of the clearest examples.
These wedding verses are drawn from books including 1 Corinthians, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Numbers, among others.
Yes. The verses about wedding gathered here include passages from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, such as Ecclesiastes 4:9 and 1 Corinthians 13:4.
