44 Bible Verses about Singleness

And the young woman's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man as a wife, and he hates her;

And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

If a woman also vows a vow unto the LORD, and binds herself by a bond, being in her father's house in her youth; And her father hears her vow, and her bond with which she has bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she has bound her soul shall stand. But if her father forbids her in the day that he hears; not any of her vows, or of her bonds with which she has bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father forbade her.

And Caleb said, He that strikes Kiriathsepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give you as your wife: only be you valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.

And for his sister a virgin, that is near unto him, who has had no husband; for her he may be defiled.

Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her, and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the LORD has spoken.

And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that would be a reproach unto us: But in this will we consent unto you: If you will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;

And they shall come near no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that has had no husband, they may defile themselves.

And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me. The LORD grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voices, and wept. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with you unto your people.read more.
And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will you go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight, and should also bear sons; Would you tarry for them till they were grown? would you refrain from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieves me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.

Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow at your father's house, till Shelah my son is grown: for he said, Lest perhaps he die also, as his brothers did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.

But if the priest's daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and is returned unto her father's house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father's food: but there shall no stranger eat of it.

And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah, and was there four whole months.

And what man is there that has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.

But if this thing is true, and the evidence of virginity is not found for the young woman: Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones so that she dies: because she has wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house: so shall you put evil away from among you.

And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and lament my virginity, I and my companions. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and lamented her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,

For the LORD has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, says your God.

And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve descendants of our father.

The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The place is too narrow for me: give a place to me that I may dwell. Then shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten for me these, since I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and moving to and fro? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?

You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah: for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.

Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her harlotry out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

For it is written, Rejoice, you barren that bear not; break forth and cry, you that travail not: for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.

Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the LORD.

For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man has his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

You shall not take you a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters in this place.

His disciples said unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, only they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, who were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, who were made eunuchs of men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

But if they cannot have self-control, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they will marry; Having judgment, because they have cast off their first faith. And at the same time they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but gossips also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.read more.
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, rule the house, give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. Are you bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.read more.
But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:

Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife has not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband has not power over his own body, but the wife.read more.
Deprive not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your lack of self-control. But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.

And he said unto the people, Be ready by the third day: come not near your wives.

And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread on hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us for these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.

I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.

Now concerning the things of which you wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

But I would have you without concern. He that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married cares for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.read more.
And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is proper, and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

And the same man had four daughters, virgins, who did prophesy.

Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

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

For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels who are in heaven.

But they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:

But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remains, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passes away.