44 Bible Verses about Singleness

The girl's father shall say to the elders: I gave my daughter to be this man's wife, but he turned against her.

Moses was content to live with the man. He gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

A young girl, who still lives in her father's house, might make a vow to Jehovah that she will do something or swear an oath that she will not do something. She must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her father raises an objection when he hears about it. If her father forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. Jehovah will forgive her, because her father refused to let her keep it.

Caleb said: He that attacks Kirjath-sepher, and captures it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter for a wife. Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife.

Finally, Saul said to David: Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I will give her to you as your wife if you prove yourself to be a warrior for me and fight Jehovah's battles. Saul thought: I must not lay a hand on him. Let the Philistines do that.

or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her.

Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go. Let her be the wife of your master's son, as Jehovah has spoken.

So they tricked them by saying: You are not circumcised! It would be a disgrace for us to let you marry Dinah now. But we will let you marry her, if you and the other men in your tribe get circumcised.

A priest must not make himself unclean by going near a dead body. But a priest may become unclean if the dead person is his father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister.

On the way she said to them: Go back home and stay with your mothers. Jehovah should be as good to you as you have been to me and to those who have died. May Jehovah make it possible for each of you to marry again and have a home. Then Naomi kissed them good-bye and they cried. They said to her: No! We will go with you to your people.read more.
You must go back, my daughters, Naomi replied. Why do you want to come with me? Do you think I could have sons again for you to marry? Return home, my daughters. I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought there was still hope, and got married and had sons, would you wait for them to grow up? Would this keep you from marrying someone else? No, my daughters, you know that is not possible. Jehovah has turned against me. I feel sorry for you.

Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar: Return to your father's house and remain a widow until my son Shelah grows up. He said this because he was afraid that Shelah would be killed, as his brothers had been. So Tamar went back home.

A widowed or divorced daughter who has no children and who has returned to live in her father's house as a dependent may eat the food her father receives as a priest. Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of it.

She was unfaithful to him and went to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah. She was there four whole months.

Is there anyone here engaged to be married? If so, he should go home. Otherwise, if he is killed in battle, someone else will marry the woman he is engaged to.

On the other hand if this charge is true, that the girl was not found a virgin, they will take the girl to the doorway of her father's house. The men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.

She asked her father: Do this for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the mountains and grieve that I must die a virgin. He sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless. She returned to her father after two months. He did what he had promised Jehovah, and she died still a virgin. This was the origin of the custom in Israel.

Jehovah will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit; a wife, who married young, only to be rejected, says your God.

The older daughter said to her sister: Our father is getting old. There are no men in the whole world to marry us so we can have children. Come, let us get our father drunk. Then we can sleep with him and have children by him.

The children removed from you will say to you: 'This place is too crowed for me. Make room for me to live here.' You will think in your heart: 'Who brought these children to birth? I am barren (sterile) and bereaved of my children. I am an exiled wonderer. Who gave birth to these? From where did these come?'

You will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will no longer be called Destroyed. You will be named My Delight. Your land will be named Married (owned as a wife). Jehovah is delighted with you, and your land will be married.

Plead with your mother (your nation), for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her put away her acts of adultery from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts!

It is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and cry, you who do not labor; for there are more children of the desolate than of the one who has the husband.

Sing joyfully, O barren woman, you who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, you who were never in labor! More are the children of the desolate woman than of the woman, who has a husband, proclaims Jehovah.

I prefer that all men were as I am. But every man has his proper gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that.

You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.

The disciples said to him: This being the case between a man and his wife, it is better not to marry. He said: This does not apply to everyone, only to those God has given it to. For there are men who, from birth, were without sex. There are some who were made that way by men. There are others who have made themselves so for the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this let him accept it.

But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. It is better to marry than to be inflamed [with lust].

Refuse younger widows: for when their sexual impulses come between them and Christ, they desire to marry. They have judgment, because they have rejected their first pledge. They also learn to be idle, going about from house to house; and not only idle, but gossipers and busybodies, speaking things that they should not.read more.
I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for reviling.

Now concerning virgins I have no commandment from the Lord. Yet I give my opinion as one who has obtained the mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Because of the present distress I think it is good for you to remain as you are. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a release. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.read more.
If you marry you have not sinned. If a virgin marries she has not sinned. Those who marry will face many problems in this life and I want to spare you.

To the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord commands do not let 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 fulfill his marital duties to his wife and also the wife to her husband. The wife has no authority over her own body, but her husband does. Likewise also the husband has no authority over his own body, but his wife does.read more.
Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent for a time. That way you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. Then come together again, that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But I speak this by concession and not by commandment.

He said to the people: Get ready for the third day. Do not go near a woman for sexual intercourse.

The high priest answered David: I do not have any ordinary bread here. But there is holy bread for the young men if they have not had sexual intercourse today. David answered the priest: Women have been kept away from us as usual when we go on a mission. The young men's bodies are kept holy even on ordinary campaigns. How much more then are their bodies holy today?

I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they stay unmarried like me.

Concerning the things that you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch (have sex with) a woman.

I want you to be free from anxiety. He who is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he who 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. She who is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.read more.
I say this for your benefit and not to restrict you. I show you how to live a noble life of devotion to the Lord without being distracted by other things.

Another explained: 'I am newly married and I cannot come.'

Now this man had four virgin daughters, who prophesied.

Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, has her hope set on God, and continues in supplications and prayers day and night.

In the resurrection they will not marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like the angels in heaven.

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

Those accounted worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage.

I will say this brothers the time remaining is short. So from now on those who have wives should be like those who have none. Those who weep should be like those who do not weep. And those who rejoice should be like those who do not rejoice, and those who buy like those who do not possess. Those who use this world should not abuse it, for the fashion of this world is passing away.