36 Bible Verses about Marriage, Between God And His People

" 'And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, {your time of lovemaking had come}, and [so] I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, 'and {you became mine}. And I washed you with water, and I rinsed off your blood from on you, and I anointed you with oil. And I clothed you [with] beautiful finished cloth, and I put sandals [on] you [of] fine leather, and I bound you in fine linen, and I covered you [with] costly fabric.read more.
And I adorned you [with] ornaments, and I put a bracelet on your arms and a necklace on your neck. And I put an ornamental ring on your nose and earrings on your ears and a {beautiful crown} on your head. And you adorned yourself with gold and silver, and your clothing [was] fine linen and costly fabric and beautiful finished cloth; you ate finely milled flour and honey and olive oil, and you became exceedingly beautiful; {you were fit to be a queen}. And a name went out for you among the nations because of your beauty, for it [was] perfect because of my majesty that I bestowed on you,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

not like the covenant that I {made} with their ancestors on the day of my grasping [them] by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," {declares} Yahweh.

'For thus says the Lord Yahweh: And I will do it to you {according to what you have done}, who despised [the] oath to break covenant. And I, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you {an everlasting covenant}.

For your husband [is] your maker, his name [is] Yahweh of hosts; and your redeemer [is] the holy one of Israel, he is called the God of all of the earth.

Then she will pursue {her lovers}, but she will not overtake them; she will seek them and not find [them]; and she will say, "I will go and return to my first husband because [it was] better for me then than now."

Lament like a virgin girded in sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

"Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I remember [concerning] you the loyal love of your childhood, the love of your betrothal-time, your going after me in the desert, in [the] land not sown.

{Because} you did not remember the days of your childhood and you made me angry with all of these. And in turn I, look, I will return your way upon [your] head,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, 'and did you not [do] wickedness in addition to all of your detestable things?

From there I will give her her vineyards, and the Valley of Achor as a doorway of hope. And there she will respond, as [in] the days of her youth, just as [in] the day of her coming out of the land of Egypt.

However, as a wife departs treacherously from her lover, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel," {declares} Yahweh.

Can a young woman forget her ornaments? [Or] a bride her sashes? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

O, adulterous woman! In the place of her husband she received strangers. To all prostitutes they give a fee, but you, you gave your gifts to all of your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from all around in your whorings! And it was the opposite with you from the [other] women in your whorings; {no one solicited you as a prostitute}. {You gave} a harlot's wages, and harlot's wages [were] not given to you, and [so] it was [just] the opposite.

{At the beginning when Yahweh spoke} through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife and children of whoredom, because the land commits great whoredom {forsaking Yahweh}."

Do not rejoice, Israel, do not exult like the nations! For you played the whore, departing from your God; you loved a harlot's wage on all the threshing floors of grain.

Plead with your mother, plead-- because she [is] not my wife, and I [am] not her husband. Let her put away her whoring {from before her}, and her adultery from between her breasts.

Thus says Yahweh: "Where [is] this divorce document of your mother's divorce, [with] which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.

Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted [herself] there. And I thought, 'After her doing all these [things] to me she will return,' but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw [it]. And I saw that {for this very reason, that} on account of apostate Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted [herself] also.read more.
And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree. Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, {but only} in pretense," {declares} Yahweh.

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, apostate Israel,' {declares} Yahweh. 'I will not cause my {anger} to fall on you. For I [am] loyal,' {declares} Yahweh. 'I will not be angry {forever}. Only acknowledge your guilt, that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,' {declares} Yahweh." "Return, apostate children," {declares} Yahweh. "For {I am your master}, and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan, and I will bring you [to] Zion.

And Yahweh said to me again, "Go, love a woman {who has a lover} and [is] committing adultery, just like the love of Yahweh [for] the children of Israel, but they [are] turning to other gods and love raisin cakes." So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine. And I said to her, "{You must remain as mine} for many days, and you will not play the whore; {you will not belong} to a man, and I [will] belong to you."

For Yahweh has called you like a wife forsaken and hurt of spirit, like [the] wife of childhood when she is rejected, says your God. I abandoned you {for a short} moment, but I will gather you with great compassion. I hid my face from you [for] a moment, in the flowing of anger, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting faithfulness" says your redeemer, Yahweh.

Therefore, Look! I [am] going to allure her and bring her [into] the desert, and {I will speak tenderly to her}.

It shall no longer be said of you, "Forsaken," and it shall no longer be said of your land, "Desolation!" but {you will} be called "My Delight [Is] In Her," and your land, "Married," for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall be married. For [as] a young man marries a virgin, [so] shall your sons marry you, and [as is the] joy of [the] bridegroom over [the] bride, [so] shall your God rejoice over you.

Look, [the] days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will {make} a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I {made} with their ancestors on the day of my grasping [them] by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," {declares} Yahweh. "But this [is] the covenant that I will {make} with the house of Israel after those days," {declares} Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people.

And I, I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh,

{And on that day}-- a declaration of Yahweh-- you will call me, "My husband;" you will no longer call me, "My Baal."

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for her; in order that he might sanctify her by cleansing [her] with the washing of water by the word; in order that he might present to himself the church glorious, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such [thing], but that she may be holy and blameless.read more.
Thus also husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. The one who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as also Christ [does] the church, because we are members of his body. "For this [reason] a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." (This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.) Only you also, each one [of you], must thus love his own wife as himself, and the wife {must respect} her husband.

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices {greatly} because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine is complete.

And Jesus said to them, "{The bridegroom's attendants} are not able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

And Jesus said to them, "The {bridegroom's attendants} are not able to fast while the bridegroom is with them, [are they]? As long a time [as] they have the bridegroom with them, they are not able to fast. But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

So he said to them, "You are not able to make the {bridegroom's attendants} fast as long as the bridegroom is with them, [are you]? But days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."

"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man--a king--who gave a wedding celebration for his son.

"Then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to ten virgins who took their lamps [and] went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were foolish and five [were] wise. For [when] the foolish ones took their lamps, they did not take olive oil with them.read more.
But the wise ones took olive oil in flasks with their lamps. And [when] the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. But in the middle of the night there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish ones said to the wise ones, 'Give us [some] of your olive oil, because our lamps are going out!' But the wise ones answered saying, "Certainly there will never be enough for us and for you! Go instead to those who sell [olive oil] and buy [some] for yourselves.' But [while] they had gone away to buy [it] the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding celebration, and the door was shut. And later the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open [the door] for us!' But he answered [and] said, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you!' Therefore be on the alert, because you do not know the day or the hour!

For I am jealous [for] you with a godly jealousy, because I promised you [in marriage] to one husband, to present [you] [as] a pure virgin to Christ.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him the glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself. And it has been granted to her that she be dressed in bright, clean fine linen (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). And he said to me, "Write: Blessed [are] those who are invited to the banquet of the wedding celebration of the Lamb!" And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And the one who hears, let him say, "Come!" And the one who is thirsty, let him come. The one who wants, let him take the water of life freely.