I got married at an incredibly young age to get away and flee from a very physically abusive mother. I wasn’t saved at the time, didn’t love him, and honestly, without my knowledge, I just traded one set of abuses for another.
But I believed in the fairy tale romances, that love would get us through. Through his porn, through his illegal crimes, through bouncing around from one family member’s home to another and we remained married for many years.
After that, he had, yet another physical affair and this time, me and the kids ended up homeless.
It was directly after I got out of the homeless shelter and into my own, small apartment, that I gave my life to God and I wondered why He had allowed all of that to happen to me.
I started learning how to become a godly woman, how to please God, and how to live a righteous life and in turn, I learned how to become a wife above reproach.
It was a lot of fun for me. I was learning all I could and growing in the Lord. That was a long time ago, and one day, in God’s timing, I’ll have someone godly to marry (until then, I refuse to settle for anyone who’s not completely sold out to God, like I am!)
Whether you’re single like me or married already, you must learn all you can about marriage. How God intends it to be, what the responsibilities of the man are and what the responsibilities of the woman are.
The more you learn about God’s design for marriage, the more you please God and shine God’s light on a dying world, whether married or not.
Let’s look at some amazing verses, 30 Bible verses about marriage, to get you started.
Be sure to also check out these posts:
30 Bible Verses About Marriage
1) 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.”
Do not take this out of context, the husband is to submit to his wife, as a weaker vessel and heir in Christ as well. They BOTH submit to each other!
2) Proverbs 18:22
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
A wife is to be a blessing to her husband all the days of his life.
3) Ephesians 5:25-27
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
Loving your wife with GOD’S love is key here! Not human, selfish love, but with Christ’s love, who was willing to lay down His life for the church.
4) Deuteronomy 24:5
“When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.”
When I get married, I’ve asked (and God has approved) to give me TWO years with my husband, just me and him, before we begin any big ministries, to enjoy each other, learn about each other, and love on each other. This is very, very important for a newly married couple!
5) Matthew 19:4–6
“He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, 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.”
As a woman, you will be tempted to listen to the gossip of your friends telling you how your husband is bad or how their husband is bad. Steer clear of women who have poison on their tongue, even if it’s covered in syrup! What God brought together, don’t let Satan creep in and separate on the sly, because he WILL try, even through your friends, parents, and any other relationship he can get his foot in.
6) Hebrews 13:4
“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
Do not sleep with anyone other than your husband. Period.
7) Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
“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!”
Your spouse is designed to lift you up, help you, and encourage you at all times. When you’re feeling drained, you can go to your spouse and they will help strengthen you, hold you, be tender with you, love you. Knowing your spouse always has your back is important. It’ll keep you grounded and both of you strengthened.
8) Ephesians 5:28-30
“In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”
Husbands are to tenderly care for their wives as they would their own bodies. It’s a sacrificial love and it goes both ways.
9) 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.”
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite verses. Want to hinder your prayers with God? Be mean to your wife. It’s as simple as that. God calls men to a standard, and it is to treat their wife with respect and honor, not as property or meanly.
10) Isaiah 62:5
“For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
It is pretty standard for a young man to marry a young woman, but it is not sin or found anywhere in the Bible saying not to marry at differing ages (think: Ruth and Boaz, which is the ideal couple). I happen to like younger guys and I’m not ashamed of it in the least. I refuse to marry someone my own age for many personal reasons. Mostly, because my personality is like a big kid, I’m like Peter Pan and I never want to grow up. 😆 I’d much rather play video games (Mario is my fav), travel, and have fun than be adult-ish. I watch cartoons. I play and joke around. And men don’t live as long as women do; I don’t want to bury a husband. I need a guy a good 10-15 years younger than me so I don’t have to bury him and so our personalities match. 😊
11) Proverbs 21:9
“It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.”
A quarrelsome wife is THE WORST! She’s cantankerous all the time, you’re never able to please her, and she’s always just so argumentative. There’s no peace in your home and it’ll drive you nuts. Be on the same page with your wife and seek to remain in unity and peace at all times.
12) 1 Corinthians 7:2-5
“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
It is SO very common for a woman to withhold sex from her husband and use it as a tool of manipulation. This is WRONG and should not ever be done! I would also say that most married couples only have sex once a week on average and the man needs it more than that. Men read sex as you wanting them. They read it as love. If you’re not intimate with them, they think you don’t love them!! You both should be actively striving to please each other, in all ways, and by doing so, once a week is usually never enough for the guy. You want to make purposeful time to be together each and every day. That doesn’t always mean sex every day (although it can), but spending loving time together every day is a must in any good, healthy, godly marriage. This will also help your husband not be tempted by Satan.
13) 1 Corinthians 16:14
“Let all that you do be done in love.”
Everything you do in your life, should be done with love. This is especially true in our daily living with our family’s. Are we gruntled, gruff, and treating them badly, or are we kind, sweet, polite, and loving?
14) 1 Corinthians 7:10-11
“To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.”
There is a lot of teaching in the Bible about marriage and divorce. If a woman divorces her husband for any other reason than he’s had a physical affair or he has abandoned her, she should not remarry as this would be sin. Divorce is not to be used flippantly. God intended marriage to be for life and this is how we must view it also!
15) Proverbs 19:14
“House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.”
The very first thing I did when I heard this verse was to look up the word prudent so that I have a good working knowledge of it to make sure I qualify in this area. I would encourage every woman to do the same (as well as single men to know what to look for in a future wife!) Basically, it’s a wife who cares for the future, prepares early, etc. As a mom, this tends to come naturally to women (think: packing a diaper bag), but it’s very important to make sure we’re lining up with this verse in all areas of our life. 😊
16) Ephesians 4:32
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
A marriage without forgiveness cannot last a week! At some point you AND your spouse are going to step on each other’s toes and it’s about asking forgiveness when you sin, when you mess up, and the other person forgiving. Forgiveness is important in ANY type of relationship! If you don’t forgive, it leads to bitterness, which is poison to the soul.
17) Ephesians 5:33
“However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
If your husband is not living a godly life, it can be super hard to respect him, but we are commanded to respect our husband. So, what do you do? I wrote a post all about it here to help!
18) 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.”
There is a point in a man’s life where he is not a child anymore. He becomes a man and so he will leave the home of his parents and be united (flesh, heart, mind) with his wife. If a man is holding onto his parents, not letting them go, it can add a lot of problems in the marriage. Of course, that never means to ignore them, as the Bible says to honor our parents, but it does mean there needs to be biblical boundaries. His wife becomes the #1 person to him on earth (after God), no longer his parents.
19) Proverbs 31:10-12
“An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.”
I love this verse so much for so many reasons. She is to do him good. Think about all the ways you can do your husband BAD. Talking about him behind his back, belittling him in public, tearing down his name to his friends, just so many ways. Wives are NEVER to participate in these things. We are to build UP our husband, treasuring him. He can safely trust her that she means him no harm, ever, even when she’s mad!!! Retaliation is the worst thing possible in a marriage. If you work on one thing in your life, work on that. That when you are mad, you never, ever retaliate. Better to take the offense and be innocent before God and man, then to attack back.
20) 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.”
One of the things I look forward to most about being married in the future is BELONGING to someone and here you have it spelled out very clearly for us. We are to BELONG to our husband, we are his, we belong to him and he belongs to us. It’s a fitting together of the souls. You fit with each other in unison. It’s such a beautiful picture of marriage. 💎 But if her husband dies (she becomes a widow; again men usually don’t live as long as women do), she is free to marry someone else, but if she does, he must be a believer.
21) 1 John 3:18
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
So often we throw around the word “love”. I love video games. I love traveling. I love baseball. I love graphic design. But God’s love has a much deeper meaning than we like something or that we’re physically attracted to our spouse. It’s about choosing them, sacrificing for them daily. It’s not just saying “I love you”, but rather SHOWING them that you love them daily, and yes, you SHOULD show your spouse you love them daily, even if it’s in the smallest of ways. You will do well to strive the rest of your life to show your spouse you love them in different ways every single day of your life. It’ll force you to get creative, to think outside the box, to put a lot of mental effort forth for your marriage, but it makes the other person feel good. It makes them happy and content, to know they are loved. It makes them feel secure, that you’re still chasing them AFTER marriage (both men AND women should do this). It’s about showing them how much they mean to you, that love is more than love, not just some words you said at your wedding day 15 years ago.
22) 1 Corinthians 13:13
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
This is a vital verse in the Bible and can apply here to marriage as well. The greatest characteristic to have, above all else is love, and love is cultivated in marriage. We understand love more when we are married because it is daily on display in our hearts and lives.
23) 1 John 4:18
“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.”
This is such a wise statement, there is no fear in love. While we may experience fear, when we love, it is focused on the OTHER person. Fear is focused on ourselves. I’m afraid of public speaking. I place my focus on myself. What will they think of me, will they like me, hate me, will I stumble and trip over my words? But if I’m focusing on loving someone else, I’m not worried about my fear of public speaking. I’m just talking to YOU, loving you, doing what is necessary for YOU. My thoughts are on you, not myself. Therefore, where there is fear, love cannot exist and where love exists, there is not fear.
24) 1 Peter 4:8
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
This isn’t saying that the other person doesn’t sin or that we just forget when someone’s hurt us, covering it over like a rug. Here it’s talking more about loving someone so much that you forgive them, even when they mess up really bad. That you love them so earnestly, with all your heart and soul, that you can’t bear to stay mad at theme and you forgive them and let the offense go.
25) Ecclesiastes 9:9
“Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.”
This has GOT TO BE one of the LEAST romantic verses on marriage in the entire Bible, for sure, but in it, there’s a lot of wisdom. Solomon is basically saying, enjoy your wife because in your feeble, insignificant existence, that’s the best you get. Work is vanity, life is vanity, everything is vanity, and you work so hard for your wife anyway (providing for her, meeting her needs, etc.), might as well enjoy her. It’s really hard to believe that this same guy wrote Song of Solomon, a book full of PASSION and romantic words for your cherished one, but he did and he wrote Ecclesiastes AFTER Song of Solomon to boot. Either way, that’s what he’s saying here: enjoy your wife because it doesn’t get any better than that.
26) 1 Corinthians 7:8-9
“To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”
This one totally tripped me up years ago. I thought that it was better to be single than be married so I can serve Christ more, but I realized that I can serve Christ just as much with a husband than without (it’s just about balancing my time). It’s really up to your own conscience if you want to be married or not and what the Lord has allotted for you. For me, I want to be married. 🥰
27) Genesis 1:27-28
“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God has blessed man with a wife, for many reasons. One, being that he not be alone. A wife is a gift from the Lord. Listen up men, never forget that. 😊
28) Song of Solomon 8:6-7
“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.”
I love that…many waters cannot quench love. It’s so true, isn’t it? Love cannot be quenched. It makes me think about Christ’s love for us, how He died for us, how He will never leave us, how His love for us will never end. ❤️
29) 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
This is a fantastic verse that shows us the standard of what God’s love is! Definitely worth deep diving into it and applying every aspect to your life!!
30) Proverbs 12:4
“An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.”
A good wife is a jewel to her husband, a gift from the Lord, someone who makes him look good and be a better man. But a bad wife is like rottenness to his bones. It’s a SLOW kind of death, but a death, none the same. She slowly kills him, crushes his soul, discourages him, manipulates him, he becomes miserable over time and all joy is sucked from his life.
