Bible Verses About Marriage

What Does The Bible Say About Marriage?

Marriage is a sacred institution, deeply rooted in the teachings of the Bible. Throughout the many different verses and passages that make up this holy book, we see countless examples of marriage being praised as an important part of Christian life and culture.

Whether you are looking for guidance on your own marriage or simply inspiration to celebrate this special relationship, there are countless bible verses about marriage that offer words of wisdom to help us understand and cherish marriage as one of God’s greatest gifts.

One particularly powerful quote from the Bible stands out in my mind: “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. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” (Proverbs 31: 10-12). This verse beautifully encapsulates the true meaning of marriage: a partnership built on love, trust, and respect.

God Wants Us to Marry

Ecclesiastes 4:9-13 – 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. Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.

Proverbs 18:22 – He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

Proverbs 19:14 – House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Mark 10:8-9 – And the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

Genesis 2:18 – Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

1 Corinthians 7:2 – But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

God created marriage for us so that we would be strong in numbers. When we are striving to reach God, it is much easier to do when you have the support from another. A Godly marriage that is seeking Him first will always draw the two closer together. It was designed for intimacy and for companionship between the husband and the wife. God tells us that our spouses are direct blessings from Him, and that we are to bind together as one.

Marriage Binds a New Family

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.

Ephesians 5:31 – Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

Beginning a new family is scary and challenging, especially when leaving the family you came from as a child. God reminds us that we are to cling to one another in marriage, becoming one. If we are going to bring children into the marriage, the husband and wife must be bound as one to raise their family with faith. The ongoing sequence of marriage and family continues to bring more people into the world to fulfill His purpose for the earth.

Contribution to Marriage Comes From Both Men and Women

1 Peter 3:7 – Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Ephesians 5:25 – Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Colossians 3:14 – And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

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.

Proverbs 31:10 – An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

The primary goal of our marriages is to serve one another in the name of God. God tells us throughout the Bible our roles in a marriage, giving instruction to both husbands and wives. We are both expected to contribute. We are to model God’s love for us to our spouses, even when things become difficult. Love is an action, not an emotion. Our action of love will continue to bind us in marriage the way God wants us to.

Marriage Is Intended Permanent, Except for Specific Circumstances

Hebrews 13:4 – Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the immoral and adulterous.

1 Corinthians 7:39 – A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

Matthew 19:9 – I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.

1 Corinthians 7:15-17 – Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches.

Matthew 19:8 – Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

1 Corinthians 7:24 – Each man must remain in the condition in which he was called…are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released.

It is not surprising that God tells us that marriage is intended as indissoluble. God designed marriage for us, not divorce. Divorce was created by man, but is not ordained by God. God only accepts divorce as just in specific circumstances outlined by God (sexual immorality.) We are intended to remain married to our husband or wife for the duration of our lives. Our marriage vows are to be taken seriously, even in times of struggle. God reminds us that He has joined us together with our spouse, so no man shall separate us. When we model our marriages in the image of God, we become strong.

25 Quotes About Marriage From The Bible

Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

1 Corinthians 7:3 Let the husband render to his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

Deuteronomy 25:5 If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

Deuteronomy 25:7 If the man doesn’t want to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.

1 Corinthians 7:11 (but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife.

Deuteronomy 24:3 If the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife;

1 Corinthians 7:39 A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whoever she desires, only in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now are they holy.

2 Samuel 11:26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband.

Revelation 19:7 Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.”

Romans 7:2 For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband.

1 Corinthians 7:38 So then both he who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and he who doesn’t give her in marriage does better.

1 Corinthians 7:4 The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife.

Genesis 16:3 Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

1 Corinthians 7:16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

1 Corinthians 7:2 But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

Numbers 5:29 “This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled;

1 Corinthians 7:10 But to the married I command–not I, but the Lord–that the wife not leave her husband

Ezekiel 16:32 A wife who commits adultery! who takes strangers instead of her husband!

Proverbs 12:4 A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, But a disgraceful wife is as rottenness in his bones.

Titus 1:6 if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.

Genesis 29:32 Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, “Because Yahweh has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me.”

1 Timothy 3:2 The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;

Deuteronomy 21:13 and she shall put the clothing of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that you shall go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

1 Samuel 4:19 His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth; for her pains came on her.