44 Bible Verses about Singleness

And the damsel's father shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man for a wife, and he hateth her,

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

If a woman also shall vow a vow to the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father's house in her youth; And her father shall hear her vow, and her bond with which she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she hath bound her soul shall stand. But if her father shall disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows or of her bonds with which she hath bound her soul shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

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

And Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee for a wife: only be thou 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 nigh to him, who hath had no husband: for her he may be defiled.

Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the LORD hath spoken.

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

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

And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. And they said to her, surely we will return with thee to thy people.read more.
And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? shall I bear more sons, 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 to-night, and should also bear sons; Would ye wait for them till they should be grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth 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 thy father's house, till Shelah my son shall be grown; (for he said, Lest perhaps he die also as his brethren did:) and Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.

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

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

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

But if this thing shall be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she may die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to be guilty of lewdness in her father's house: so shalt thou remove evil from among you.

And she said to 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 bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned to 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 hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to 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 seed of our father.

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

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy 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 prostitutions out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she who hath a husband.

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

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

Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons nor daughters in this place.

His disciples say to him, If the case of the man is so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said to them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, who were so born from their mothers womb: and there are some eunuchs, who were made eunuchs by 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 contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they will marry; Having damnation, 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 tattlers also, and busy-bodies, speaking things which they ought not.read more.
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide 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 hath obtained mercy from 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. Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.read more.
But if thou marry, thou hast not sinned: and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless, such will have trouble in the flesh; but I spare you.

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

Nevertheless, to avoid lewdness, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife to the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.read more.
Defraud ye not one the other, except with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan may not tempt you for your incontinence. But I speak this by permission, and not as a commandment.

And he said to the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

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

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

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

But I would have you without anxious care. He that is unmarried, is anxious for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married, is anxious for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman is anxious for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit: but she that is married, is anxious 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 comely, and that ye 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 prophesied.

Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth 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 remaineth, 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 passeth away.