Bible Readings for Weddings

Genesis 2:18-24

¹⁸And Jehovah Elohim said, It is not good that Man should be alone; I will make him a helpmate, his like.

¹⁹And out of the ground Jehovah Elohim had formed every animal of the field and all fowl of the heavens, and brought [them] to Man, to see what he would call them; and whatever Man called each living soul, that was its name.

²⁰And Man gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but as for Adam, he found no helpmate, his like.

²¹And Jehovah Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Man; and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up flesh in its stead.

²²And Jehovah Elohim built the rib that he had taken from Man into a woman; and brought her to Man.

²³And Man said, This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man.

²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Ruth 4

¹And Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. And behold, he that had the right of redemption, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. And he said, Thou, such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down.

²And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit down here. And they sat down.

³And he said to him that had the right of redemption: Naomi, who is come back out of the country of Moab, sells the allotment that was our brother Elimelech's.

⁴And I thought I would apprise thee of it and say, Buy [it] in the presence of the inhabitants, and in the presence of the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem [it], redeem; but if thou wilt not redeem, tell me, that I may know; for there is none to redeem besides thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem [it].

⁵And Boaz said, On the day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy [it] also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

⁶And he that had the right of redemption said, I cannot redeem [it] for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance. Redeem thou for thyself what I should redeem, for I cannot redeem [it].

⁷Now this [was the custom] in former time in Israel concerning redemption and concerning exchange, to confirm the whole matter: a man drew off his sandal, and gave it to his neighbour, and this was the [mode of] attestation in Israel.

⁸And he that had the right of redemption said to Boaz, Buy for thyself; and he drew off his sandal.

⁹And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi;

¹⁰moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

¹¹And all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, [We are] witnesses. Jehovah make the woman that cometh into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel; and acquire power in Ephratah, and make thyself a name in Bethlehem;

¹²and let thy house become like the house of Pherez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which Jehovah shall give thee of this young woman.

¹³And Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in unto her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bore a son.

¹⁴And the women said to Naomi, Blessed be Jehovah who hath not left thee this day without one that has the right of redemption, and may his name be famous in Israel!

¹⁵And he shall be to thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law who loves thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, has borne him.

¹⁶And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it.

¹⁷And the women [her] neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸Now these are the generations of Pherez. Pherez begot Hezron,

¹⁹and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab,

²⁰and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon,

²¹and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed,

²²and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

Proverbs 5:15-19

¹⁵Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

¹⁶Thy fountains shall be poured forth, as water-brooks in the broadways.

¹⁷Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

¹⁸Let thy fountain be blessed; and have joy of the wife of thy youth.

¹⁹As a lovely hind and a graceful roe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times: be thou ravished continually with her love.

Proverbs 18:22

²²Whoso hath found a wife hath found a good thing, and hath obtained favour from Jehovah.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

⁹Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

¹⁰For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and who hath not another to lift him up!

¹¹Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one alone be warm?

¹²And if a [man] overpower the one, the two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Matthew 19:5-6

⁵and said, On account of this a man shall leave father and mother, and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh?

⁶so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

Mark 10:6-9

⁶but from [the] beginning of [the] creation God made them male and female.

⁷For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united to his wife,

⁸and the two shall be one flesh: so that they are no longer two but one flesh.

⁹What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

John 2:1-11

¹And on the third day a marriage took place in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

²And Jesus also, and his disciples, were invited to the marriage.

³And wine being deficient, the mother of Jesus says to him, They have no wine.

⁴Jesus says to her, What have I to do with thee, woman? mine hour has not yet come.

⁵His mother says to the servants, Whatever he may say to you, do.

⁶Now there were standing there six stone water-vessels, according to the purification of the Jews, holding two or three measures each.

⁷Jesus says to them, Fill the water-vessels with water. And they filled them up to the brim.

⁸And he says to them, Draw out now, and carry [it] to the feast-master. And they carried [it].

⁹But when the feast-master had tasted the water which had been made wine (and knew not whence it was, but the servants knew who drew the water), the feast-master calls the bridegroom,

¹⁰and says to him, Every man sets on first the good wine, and when [men] have well drunk, then the inferior; thou hast kept the good wine till now.

¹¹This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

I Corinthians 7

¹But concerning the things of which ye have written [to me]: [It is] good for a man not to touch a woman;

²but on account of fornications, let each have his own wife, and each [woman] have her own husband.

³Let the husband render her due to the wife, and in like manner the wife to the husband.

⁴The wife has not authority over her own body, but the husband: in like manner also the husband has not authority over his own body, but the wife.

⁵Defraud not one another, unless, it may be, by consent for a time, that ye may devote yourselves to prayer, and again be together, that Satan tempt you not because of your incontinency.

⁶But this I say, as consenting [to], not as commanding [it].

⁷Now I wish all men to be even as myself: but every one has his own gift of God: one man thus, and another thus.

⁸But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them that they remain even as I.

⁹But if they have not control over themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.

¹⁰But to the married I enjoin, not *I*, but the Lord, Let not wife be separated from husband;

¹¹(but if also she shall have been separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband;) and let not husband leave wife.

¹²But as to the rest, *I* say, not the Lord, If any brother have an unbelieving wife, and *she* consent to dwell with him, let him not leave her.

¹³And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to dwell with her, let her not leave [her] husband.

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother; since [otherwise] indeed your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

¹⁵But if the unbeliever go away, let them go away; a brother or a sister is not bound in such [cases], but God has called us in peace.

¹⁶For what knowest thou, O wife, if thou shalt save thy husband? or what knowest thou, O husband, if thou shalt save thy wife?

¹⁷However, as the Lord has divided to each, as God has called each, so let him walk; and thus I ordain in all the assemblies.

¹⁸Has any one been called circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised: has any one been called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but keeping God's commandments.

²⁰Let each abide in that calling in which he has been called.

²¹Hast thou been called [being] a bondman, let it not concern thee; but and if thou canst become free, use [it] rather.

²²For the bondman that is called in [the] Lord is the Lord's freedman; in like manner [also] the freeman being called is Christ's bondman.

²³Ye have been bought with a price; do not be the bondmen of men.

²⁴Let each, wherein he is called, brethren, therein abide with God.

²⁵But concerning virgins, I have no commandment of [the] Lord; but I give my opinion, as having received mercy of [the] Lord to be faithful.

²⁶I think then that this is good, on account of the present necessity, that [it is] good for a man to remain so as he is.

²⁷Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed; art thou free from a wife? do not seek a wife.

²⁸But if thou shouldest also marry, thou hast not sinned; and if the virgin marry, they have not sinned: but such shall have tribulation in the flesh; but I spare you.

²⁹But this I say, brethren, the time is straitened. For the rest, that they who have wives, be as not having [any]:

³⁰and they that weep, as not weeping; and they that rejoice, as not rejoicing; and they that buy, as not possessing;

³¹and they that use the world, as not disposing of it as their own; for the fashion of this world passes.

³²But I wish you to be without care. The unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he shall please the Lord;

³³but he that has married cares for the things of the world, how he shall please his wife.

³⁴There is a difference between the wife and the virgin. The unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but she that has married cares for the things of the world, how she shall please her husband.

³⁵But I say this for your own profit; not that I may set a snare before you, but for what [is] seemly, and waiting on the Lord without distraction.

³⁶But if any one think that he behaves unseemly to his virginity, if he be beyond the flower of his age, and so it must be, let him do what he will, he does not sin: let them marry.

³⁷But he who stands firm in his heart, having no need, but has authority over his own will, and has judged this in his heart to keep his own virginity, he does well.

³⁸So that he that marries himself does well; and he that does not marry does better.

³⁹A wife is bound for whatever time her husband lives; but if the husband be fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she will, only in [the] Lord.

⁴⁰But she is happier if she so remain, according to my judgment; but I think that *I* also have God's Spirit.

I Corinthians 11:3, 8-9

³But I wish you to know that the Christ is the head of every man, but woman's head [is] the man, and the Christ's head God.

⁸For man is not of woman, but woman of man.

⁹For also man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man.

I Corinthians 13:1-13

¹If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

²And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

³And if I shall dole out all my goods in food, and if I deliver up my body that I may be burned, but have not love, I profit nothing.

⁴Love has long patience, is kind; love is not emulous [of others]; love is not insolent and rash, is not puffed up,

⁵does not behave in an unseemly manner, does not seek what is its own, is not quickly provoked, does not impute evil,

⁶does not rejoice at iniquity but rejoices with the truth,

⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never fails; but whether prophecies, they shall be done away; or tongues, they shall cease; or knowledge, it shall be done away.

⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part:

¹⁰but when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I reasoned as a child; when I became a man, I had done with what belonged to the child.

¹²For we see now through a dim window obscurely, but then face to face; now I know partially, but then I shall know according as I also have been known.

¹³And now abide faith, hope, love; these three things; and the greater of these [is] love.

II Corinthians 6:14

¹⁴Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers; for what participation [is there] between righteousness and lawlessness? or what fellowship of light with darkness?

Ephesians 5:22-33

²²Wives, [submit yourselves] to your own husbands, as to the Lord,

²³for a husband is head of the wife, as also the Christ [is] head of the assembly. *He* [is] Saviour of the body.

²⁴But even as the assembly is subjected to the Christ, so also wives to their own husbands in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it,

²⁶in order that he might sanctify it, purifying [it] by the washing of water by [the] word,

²⁷that *he* might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it might be holy and blameless.

²⁸So ought men also to love their own wives as their own bodies: he that loves his own wife loves himself.

²⁹For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as also the Christ the assembly:

³⁰for we are members of his body; [we are of his flesh, and of his bones.]

³¹Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.

³²This mystery is great, but *I* speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly.

³³But *ye* also, every one of you, let each so love his own wife as himself; but as to the wife [I speak] that she may fear the husband.

Colossians 3:18-19

¹⁸Wives, be subject to [your] husbands, as is fitting in [the] Lord.

¹⁹Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Hebrews 13:4

⁴[Let] marriage [be held] every way in honour, and the bed [be] undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers will God judge.

I Peter 3:1-7

¹Likewise, wives, [be] subject to your own husbands, that, even if any are disobedient to the word, they may be gained without [the] word by the conversation of the wives,

²having witnessed your pure conversation [carried out] in fear;

³whose adorning let it not be that outward one of tressing of hair, and wearing gold, or putting on apparel;

⁴but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible [ornament] of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price.

⁵For thus also the holy women who have hoped in God heretofore adorned themselves, being subject to their own husbands;

⁶as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose children ye have become, doing good, and not fearing with any kind of consternation.

⁷[Ye] husbands likewise, dwell with [them] according to knowledge, as with a weaker, [even] the female, vessel, giving [them] honour, as also fellow-heirs of [the] grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.

Revelation 19:7-9

⁷Let us rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.

⁸And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright [and] pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.

⁹And he says to me, Write, Blessed [are] they who are called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb. And he says to me, These are the true words of God.