'Love' in the Bible

an inheritance to Israel His servant.        His love is eternal.

He remembered us in our humiliation        His love is eternal.

and rescued us from our foes.        His love is eternal.

He gives food to every creature.        His love is eternal.

Give thanks to the God of heaven!        His love is eternal.

I will bow down toward Your holy templeand give thanks to Your namefor Your constant love and truth.You have exalted Your nameand Your promise above everything else.

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.Lord, Your love is eternal;do not abandon the work of Your hands.

Let the righteous one strike me—it is an act of faithful love;let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;let me not refuse it.Even now my prayer is againstthe evil acts of the wicked.

Let me experienceYour faithful love in the morning,for I trust in You.Reveal to me the way I should gobecause I long for You.

and in Your faithful love destroy my enemies.Wipe out all those who attack me,for I am Your servant.

He is my faithful love and my fortress,my stronghold and my deliverer.He is my shield, and I take refuge in Him;He subdues my people under me.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate,slow to anger and great in faithful love.

The Lord guards all those who love Him,but He destroys all the wicked.

The Lord values those who fear Him,those who put their hope in His faithful love.

“How long, foolish ones, will you love ignorance?How long will you mockers enjoy mockingand you fools hate knowledge?

Don’t abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you;love her, and she will guard you.

A loving doe, a graceful fawn—let her breasts always satisfy you;be lost in her love forever.

Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning.Let’s feast on each other’s love!

I love those who love me,and those who search for me find me.

giving wealth as an inheritance to those who love me,and filling their treasuries.

but the one who misses me harms himself;all who hate me love death.”

Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you;rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

Hatred stirs up conflicts,but love covers all offenses.

A poor man is hated even by his neighbor,but there are many who love the rich.

A mocker doesn’t love one who corrects him;he will not consult the wise.

Better a meal of vegetables where there is lovethan a fattened ox with hatred.

Whoever conceals an offense promotes love,but whoever gossips about it separates friends.

Life and death are in the power of the tongue,and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Don’t love sleep, or you will become poor;open your eyes, and you’ll have enough to eat.

The one who pursues righteousness and faithful lovewill find life, righteousness, and honor.

Better an open reprimandthan concealed love.

a time to love and a time to hate;a time for war and a time for peace.

Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.

Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.

Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.

W Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!For your love is more delightful than wine.

Take me with you—let us hurry.Oh, that the king would bring me to his chambers.Y We will rejoice and be glad for you;we will praise your love more than wine.W It is only right that they adore you.

Tell me, you, the one I love:Where do you pasture your sheep?Where do you let them rest at noon?Why should I be like one who veils herselfbeside the flocks of your companions?

My love is a sachet of myrrh to me,spending the night between my breasts.

My love is a cluster of henna blossoms to me,in the vineyards of En-gedi.

W How handsome you are, my love.How delightful!Our bed is lush with foliage;

W Like an apricot tree among the trees of the forest,so is my love among the young men.I delight to sit in his shade,and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

He brought me to the banquet hall,and he looked on me with love.

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge youby the gazelles and the wild does of the field:do not stir up or awaken loveuntil the appropriate time.

Listen! My love is approaching.Look! Here he comes,leaping over the mountains,bounding over the hills.

My love is like a gazelleor a young stag.Look, he is standing behind our wall,gazing through the windows,peering through the lattice.

My love calls to me:M Arise, my darling.Come away, my beautiful one.

W My love is mine and I am his;he feeds among the lilies.

Before the day breaksand the shadows flee,turn to me, my love, and be like a gazelleor a young stag on the divided mountains. >

In my bed at nightI sought the one I love;I sought him, but did not find him.

I will arise now and go about the city,through the streets and the plazas.I will seek the one I love.I sought him, but did not find him.

The guards who go about the city found me.I asked them, “Have you seen the one I love?”

I had just passed themwhen I found the one I love.I held on to him and would not let him gountil I brought him to my mother’s house—to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge youby the gazelles and the wild does of the field:do not stir up or awaken loveuntil the appropriate time.

He made its posts of silver,its back of gold,and its seat of purple.Its interior is inlaid with loveby the young women of Jerusalem.

How delightful your love is, my sister, my bride.Your love is much better than wine,and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.

W Awaken, north wind—come, south wind.Blow on my garden,and spread the fragrance of its spices.Let my love come to his gardenand eat its choicest fruits. >

M I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.I gather my myrrh with my spices.I eat my honeycomb with my honey.I drink my wine with my milk.N Eat, friends!Drink, be intoxicated with love!

W I sleep, but my heart is awake.A sound! My love is knocking!M Open to me, my sister, my darling,my dove, my perfect one.For my head is drenched with dew,my hair with droplets of the night.

My love thrust his hand through the opening,and my feelings were stirred for him.

I rose to open for my love.My hands dripped with myrrh,my fingers with flowing myrrhon the handles of the bolt.

I opened to my love,but my love had turned and gone away.I was crushed that he had left.I sought him, but did not find him.I called him, but he did not answer.

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:if you find my love,tell him that I am lovesick.

Y What makes the one you love better than another,most beautiful of women?What makes him better than another,that you would give us this charge?

W My love is fit and strong,notable among ten thousand.

His mouth is sweetness.He is absolutely desirable.This is my love, and this is my friend,young women of Jerusalem. >

Y Where has your love gone,most beautiful of women?Which way has he turned?We will seek him with you.

W My love has gone down to his garden,to beds of spice,to feed in the gardensand gather lilies.

I am my love’s and my love is mine;he feeds among the lilies.

How beautiful you are and how pleasant,my love, with such delights!

Your mouth is like fine wine—W flowing smoothly for my love,gliding past my lips and teeth!

I belong to my love,and his desire is for me.

Come, my love,let’s go to the field;let’s spend the night among the henna blossoms.

Let’s go early to the vineyards;let’s see if the vine has budded,if the blossom has opened,if the pomegranates are in bloom.There I will give you my love.

The mandrakes give off a fragrance,and at our doors is every delicacy—new as well as old.I have treasured them up for you, my love. >

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:do not stir up or awaken loveuntil the appropriate time.

Set me as a seal on your heart,as a seal on your arm.For love is as strong as death;ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol.Love’s flames are fiery flames—the fiercest of all.

Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;rivers cannot sweep it away.If a man were to give all his wealth for love,it would be utterly scorned.

W Hurry to me, my love,and be like a gazelleor a young stagon the mountains of spices.

Your rulers are rebels,friends of thieves.They all love graftand chase after bribes.They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,and the widow’s case never comes before them.

I will sing about the one I love,a song about my loved one’s vineyard:The one I love had a vineyardon a very fertile hill.

Then in the tent of Davida throne will be established by faithful love.A judge who seeks what is rightand is quick to execute justicewill sit on the throne forever.

Indeed, it was for my own welfarethat I had such great bitterness;but Your love has delivered mefrom the Pit of destruction,for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.

Because you are precious in My sightand honored, and I love you,I will give people in exchange for youand nations instead of your life.

In a surge of angerI hid My face from you for a moment,but I will have compassion on youwith everlasting love,”says the Lord your Redeemer.

Though the mountains moveand the hills shake,My love will not be removed from youand My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”says your compassionate Lord.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lordminister to Him, love the name of Yahwehand become His servants,all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating itand who hold firmly to My covenant—

Israel’s watchmen are blind, all of them,they know nothing;all of them are mute dogs,they cannot bark;they dream, lie down,and love to sleep.

For I Yahweh love justice;I hate robbery and injustice;I will faithfully reward themand make an everlasting covenant with them.

I will make known the Lord’s faithful loveand the Lord’s praiseworthy acts,because of all the Lord has done for us—even the many good thingsHe has done for the house of Israeland has done for them based on His compassionand the abundance of His faithful love.

In all their suffering, He suffered,and the Angel of His Presence saved them.He redeemed thembecause of His love and compassion;He lifted them up and carried themall the days of the past.

Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her,all who love her.Rejoice greatly with her,all who mourn over her—

“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:I remember the loyalty of your youth,your love as a bride—how you followed Me in the wilderness,in a land not sown.

Keep your feet from going bareand your throat from thirst.But you say, “It’s hopeless;I love strangers,and I will continue to follow them.”

How skillfully you pursue love;you also teach evil women your ways.

The prophets prophesy falsely,and the priests rule by their own authority.My people love it like this.But what will you do at the end of it?

But the one who boasts should boast in this,that he understands and knows Me—that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love,justice, and righteousness on the earth,for I delight in these things.This is the Lord’s declaration.

I have abandoned My house;I have deserted My inheritance.I have given the love of My lifeinto the hands of her enemies.

This is what the Lord says concerning these people:Truly they love to wander;they never rest their feet.So the Lord does not accept them.Now He will remember their guiltand punish their sins.

“For this is what the Lord says: Don’t enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. Don’t go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed My peace from these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“as well as My faithful love and compassion.