44 Bible Verses about Singleness

And [then] the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he [now] {dislikes} her,

And Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.

"If a woman makes a vow to Yahweh, and she binds a pledge [on herself] in her father's house in your childhood, but if her father hears her vow or her pledge that she bound on herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows will stand, and every pledge that she binds on her life will stand. If her father forbids her on the day he hears [of it], all her vows or her pledges that she bound on herself will not stand, and Yahweh will forgive her because her father has forgiven her.

And Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath Sepher and captures it, I will give to him Acsah my daughter as a wife." Othniel son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, captured it, and he gave to him Acsah his daughter as a wife.

Then Saul said to David, "Here [is] my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as [your] wife. Only be {a brave warrior} for me and fight the battles of Yahweh." For Saul thought, "My hand will not be against him, but let the hand of [the] Philistines be against him."

and for his sister, a virgin, [who is] closest to him, {who has not had a husband}--for her he may defile himself.

Here [is] Rebekah before you. Take [her] and go; let her be a wife for the son of your master as Yahweh has spoken."

And they said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who [is] uncircumcised, for that [is] a disgrace for us. Only on this [condition] will we give consent to you; if you will become like us--every male among you to be circumcised.

And {near a dead person} he shall not come to be defiled, {but only} for a father and for a mother and for a son and for a daughter, for a brother and for a sister {who was not married} may they defile themselves.

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, each [of you] return to her mother's house. May Yahweh {show kindness to you} [just] as you did with the dead and with me. May Yahweh {grant that you} find a resting place, each [in] the house of her husband." And she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and cried. And they said to her, "[No,] we want to return with you to your people."read more.
And Naomi said, "Return, my daughters. {Why do you still want to go with me}? [Are there] sons {in my womb} that may be husbands for you? Turn back, my daughters! Go, for {I am too old to have a husband}. If I should think there is hope for me, even if I should have a husband [this] night, and even if I should bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore {refrain from marrying}? No, my daughters, for it is far more bitter to me than [to] you. For the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me."

Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Stay a widow in your father's house until Shelah my son grows up," for {he feared he would also die} like his brother. So Tamar went and stayed in the house of her father.

But a priest's daughter, when she becomes a widow or divorced or there is no offspring for her, and she returns to her father's house as [in] her childhood, she may eat from her father's food, but {no layman may eat it}.

But his concubine felt repugnance toward him, and she left him and went to her father's house, to Bethlehem in Judah; she was there some four months.

And who [is] the man who got engaged to a woman and [has] not married her? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and {another man} marries her.'

"But if {this charge} was true, {and the signs of virginity were not found} for the young woman, and [then] they shall bring out the young woman to the doorway of the house of her father, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, and she shall die, because she did a disgraceful thing in Israel {by playing the harlot} [in] the house of her father, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.

And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months so that I may go wander on the mountains and lament over my virginity, I and my companions. And he said, "Go." He sent her away [for] two months, and she went with her friends, and she lamented over her virginity on the mountains. At the end of the two months she returned to her father, and he did to her [according to] his vow; and {she did not sleep with a man}. And it became an annual custom in Israel

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.

And the firstborn [daughter] said to the younger one, "Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the manner of all the land. Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him that {we may secure descendants through our father}."

Yet the children {born when you were bereaved} will say in your {hearing}, "The place is [too] cramped for me; {make room} for me so that I can dwell." Then you will say in your heart, "Who has borne me these?" And, "I [was] bereaved and barren, exiled and thrust away; so who raised these? Look at me! I was left alone; {where have these come from}?"

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.

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.

For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren woman, who does not give birth to [children]; burst out and shout, [you] who do not have birth pains, because many [are] the children of the desolate [woman], even more than [those of] the one who has a husband."

"Sing for joy, barren [woman]; [who] has not borne! Burst forth [into] rejoicing and rejoice, [she who] has not been in labor! For [the] children of [the] desolate woman [are] more than [the] children of [the] married woman," says Yahweh.

I wish all people could be like myself, but each one has his own gift from God, one in this way and another in that way.

"You shall not take for yourself a wife, there shall not be for you sons and daughters in this place."

The disciples said to him, "If this is the case of a man with his wife, it would be better not to marry!" But he said to them, "Not everyone can accept this saying but [those] to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born as such from [their] mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves [eunuchs] for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept [this], let him accept [it]."

But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn [with sexual desire].

But refuse younger widows, for whenever their physical desires lead them away from Christ, they want to marry, [thus] incurring condemnation because they have broken their former pledge. And at the same time also, going around from house to house, they learn [to be] idle, and not only idle, but also gossipy and busybodies, saying the things [that are] not necessary.read more.
Therefore I want younger [widows] to marry, to bear children, to manage a household, to give the adversary no opportunity for reproach.

Now concerning virgins I do not have a command from the Lord, but I am giving an opinion as one shown mercy by the Lord to be trustworthy. Therefore, I consider this to be good because of the impending distress, that [it is] good for a man to be thus. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.read more.
But if you marry, you have not sinned, and if the virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have affliction in the flesh, and I would spare you.

To the married I command--not I, but the Lord--a wife must not separate from [her] husband.

But because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his obligation to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but her husband [does]. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but his wife [does].read more.
Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a time, in order that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and [then] you should be {together} again, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self control. But I say this as a concession, not as a command.

And he said to the people, "Be ready {for the third day}. Do not go near to a woman."

The priest answered David and said, "There is no ordinary bread {here at hand}; there is only holy bread, [but] only if the young men have kept themselves from women." David answered the priest and said to him, "Indeed, women [were] held back from us {as it has been when I've gone out before}. And the things of the young men are holy when it [is] an ordinary journey. {How much more} {today} will the things be holy?"

Now I say to the unmarried and to the widows: [It is] good for them if they remain as I [am].

Now concerning [the things] about which you wrote: "[It is] good for a man not to touch a woman."

But I want you to be free from care. The unmarried person cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But the one who is married cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided. And the unmarried woman or the virgin cares for the things of the Lord, in order that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.read more.
Now I am saying this for your own benefit, not that I may put a restriction on you, but to promote appropriate and devoted service to the Lord without distraction.

And another said, 'I have married a wife, and for this [reason] I am not able to come.'

({Now this man had} four virgin daughters who prophesied.)

But the widow [who is one] truly, and is left alone, has put her hope in God and continues in her petitions and prayers night and day.

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.

For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and [to] the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,

But I say this, brothers: the time is shortened, that from now on even those who have wives should be as [if they] do not have [wives], and those who weep as [if they] do not weep, and those who rejoice as [if they] do not rejoice, and those who buy as [if they] do not possess, and those who make use of the world as [if they] do not make full use of [it]. For the present form of this world is passing away.