For many generations, engaged couples have asked friends and family to read from the Bible passages on the factors contributing to an ideal marriage. To help you find verses which support your marriage goals, we offer the following readings from which you may select if you wish.
Hey, John!
Maria and I are meeting with our priest next week to select the Bible readings for our wedding.
Could you recommend a few for me?
Thanks for making me look like a genius,
Brandon the Biblically Baffled in Bandon, Oregon
Hey, Brandon!
No problem! I am happy to help!
As someone who has guided people through the process of creating a wedding ceremony which reflects their values, hopes, and dreams, let me share a few of my favorite Bible verses.
(Hint: Google “Bible verses about marriage,” “Bible verses about love,” and “Bible verses for a wedding,” and you will find even more!)
Bible readings from the Old Testament of the Bible or the Masoretic Text:
Rebekah and Isaac, Genesis 24
This is the longest chapter in the Bible; it needed to be long to tell the remarkable story of the love that blossomed between these two people. I suggest reading parts of the chapter rather than the entire chapter unless you want a really loooong wedding.
Here’s the story: Abraham sends a trusted servant back to Mesopotamia to find a bride for his son, Isaac, from among Abraham’s kin. After a long journey, the servant prays to God for a particular sign that he will find the right young woman. This happens in the beautiful scene of Rebekah at the well which reveals her virtues and her beauty, making her the perfect bride-to-be for Isaac.
With a blessing from her family, she sets out across the Middle East to meet her groom. In Gen. 24: 62-65, she sees Isaac for the first time. Dismounting from her camel, she puts on her veil, a nonverbal sign among upper class Assyrian women that she is a soon-to-be betrothed woman. By donning the veil herself, she may be indicating her elevated level of independence.
In verse 67, something fantastic happens: She is the first woman in the Bible who is referred to as being loved by her husband—the first woman described as being cherished by her husband’s deep marital love for her!
The Book of Ruth
This beautiful book tells the story of Ruth, a young widow from Moab (today’s Jordan) who follows her mother-in-law back to the land of Israel. She harvests grain in wheat field belonging to Boaz, a community leader. Later, she meets and marries him. Over time, she becomes the great-grandmother of David, Israel’s mightiest king, and thus she is also an ancestor of Jesus. You could take readings from this book to tell this incredible love story!
Psalm 126:3
The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. (NIV)
Song of Solomon 2:10-13, 16
My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one,and come away.
My beloved is mine, and I am his…(English Standard Version)
Song of Solomon 3:4
I found him whom my soul loves. (ESV)
This book is a conversation between a bride and groom about how much they love each other. Read the entire book—it’s verses that speak to you. King Solomon (David’s son) wrote a lyrical love poem that still resonates with readers today for its beauty!a short book–to find the verses that speak to you. King Solomon (David’s son) wrote a lyrical love poem that still resonates with readers today for its beauty!
Bible Readings from the New Testament:
I Corinthians 13
This chapter on love is one of the favorite Bible passages for weddings.
My suggestion is that you take selected verses such as:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b]
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (ESV)
1 John 4:7-12
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (NIV)
1 John 4:18-19
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
We love because he first loved us. (ESV)
I hope these selections get you started on your quest for readings. There are so many great Bible citations for a wedding! If you have more questions, reach out to me!
Your friend in the wedding business,
John Shyne
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