Bible Readings for Weddings

Genesis 2:18-24

¹⁸And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be by himself: I will make one like himself as a help to him

¹⁹And from the earth the Lord God made every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and took them to the man to see what names he would give them: and whatever name he gave to any living thing, that was its name.

²⁰And the man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every beast of the field; but Adam had no one like himself as a help.

²¹And the Lord God sent a deep sleep on the man, and took one of the bones from his side while he was sleeping, joining up the flesh again in its place:

²²And the bone which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman, and took her to the man.

²³And the man said, This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: let her name be Woman because she was taken out of Man.

²⁴For this cause will a man go away from his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; and they will be one flesh.

Ruth 4

¹And Boaz went up to the public place of the town, and took his seat there: and the near relation of whom he had been talking came by; and Boaz, crying out to him by name, said, Come and be seated here. And he came and was seated.

²Then he got ten of the responsible men of the town, and said, Be seated here. And they took their seats.

³Then he said to the near relation, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is offering for a price that bit of land which was our brother Elimelech's:

⁴And it was in my mind to give you the chance of taking it, with the approval of those seated here and of the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relation to do, then do it: but if you will not do it, say so to me now; for there is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you myself. And he said, I will do it.

⁵Then Boaz said, On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage.

⁶And the near relation said, I am not able to do the relation's part, for fear of damaging the heritage I have: you may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself.

⁷Now, in earlier times this was the way in Israel when property was taken over by a near relation, or when there was a change of owner. To make the exchange certain one man took off his shoe and gave it to the other; and this was a witness in Israel.

⁸So the near relation said to Boaz, Take it for yourself. And he took off his shoe.

⁹Then Boaz said to the responsible men and to all the people, You are witnesses today that I have taken at a price from Naomi all the property which was Elimelech's, and everything which was Chilion's and Mahlon's.

¹⁰And, further, I have taken Ruth, the Moabitess, who was the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to keep the name of the dead man living in his heritage, so that his name may not be cut off from among his countrymen, and from the memory of his town: you are witnesses this day.

¹¹And all the people who were in the public place, and the responsible men, said, We are witnesses. May the Lord make this woman, who is about to come into your house, like Rachel and Leah, which two were the builders of the house of Israel: and may you have wealth in Ephrathah, and be great in Beth-lehem;

¹²May your family be like the family of Perez, the son whom Tamar gave to Judah, from the offspring which the Lord may give you by this young woman.

¹³So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and the Lord made her with child and she gave birth to a son.

¹⁴And the women said to Naomi, A blessing on the Lord, who has not let you be this day without a near relation, and may his name be great in Israel.

¹⁵He will be a giver of new life to you, and your comforter when you are old, for your daughter-in-law, who, in her love for you, is better than seven sons, has given birth to him.

¹⁶And Naomi took the child and put her arms round it, and she took care of it.

¹⁷And the women who were her neighbours gave it a name, saying, Naomi has a child; and they gave him the name of Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron;

¹⁹And Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab;

²⁰And Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon;

²¹And Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed;

²²And Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.

Proverbs 5:15-19

¹⁵Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.

¹⁶Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.

¹⁷Let them be for yourself only, not for other men with you.

¹⁸Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.

¹⁹As a loving hind and a gentle doe, let her breasts ever give you rapture; let your passion at all times be moved by her love.

Proverbs 18:22

²²Whoever gets a wife gets a good thing, and has the approval of the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their work.

¹⁰And if one has a fall, the other will give him a hand; but unhappy is the man who is by himself, because he has no helper.

¹¹So again, if two are sleeping together they are warm, but how may one be warm by himself?

¹²And two attacked by one would be safe, and three cords twisted together are not quickly broken.

Matthew 19:5-6

⁵For this cause will a man go away from his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and the two will become one flesh?

⁶So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Then let not that which has been joined by God be parted by man.

Mark 10:6-9

⁶But from the first, male and female made he them.

⁷For this cause will a man go away from his father and mother, and be joined to his wife;

⁸And the two will become one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹Let not that which has been joined together by God be parted by man.

John 2:1-11

¹On the third day two people were going to be married at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there:

²And Jesus with his disciples came as guests.

³When they had not enough wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine.

⁴Jesus said to her, Woman, this is not your business; my time is still to come.

⁵His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it.

⁶Now six pots of stone, every one taking two or three firkins of water, were placed there for the purpose of washing, as is the way of the Jews.

⁷Jesus said to the servants, Make the pots full of water. And they made them full to the top.

⁸Then he said to them, Now take some, and give it to the master of the feast. So they took it to him.

⁹After tasting the water which had now become wine, the master of the feast (having no idea where it came from, though it was clear to the servants who took the water out) sent for the newly-married man,

¹⁰And said to him, Every man first puts out his best wine and when all have had enough he puts out what is not so good; but you have kept the good wine till now.

¹¹This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and let his glory be seen openly; and his disciples put their faith in him.

I Corinthians 7

¹Now, as to the things in your letter to me: It is good for a man to have nothing to do with a woman.

²But because of the desires of the flesh, let every man have his wife, and every woman her husband.

³Let the husband give to the wife what is right; and let the wife do the same to the husband.

⁴The wife has not power over her body, but the husband; and in the same way the husband has not power over his body, but the wife.

⁵Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control.

⁶But this I say as my opinion, and not as an order of the Lord.

⁷It is my desire that all men might be even as I am. But every man has the power of his special way of life given him by God, one in this way and one in that.

⁸But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them to be even as I am.

⁹But if they have not self-control let them get married; for married life is better than the burning of desire.

¹⁰But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband

¹¹(Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife.

¹²But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her.

¹³And if a woman has a husband who is not a Christian, and it is his desire to go on living with her, let her not go away from her husband.

¹⁴For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy.

¹⁵But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.

¹⁶For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?

¹⁷Only, as the Lord has given to a man, and as is the purpose of God for him, so let him go on living. And these are my orders for all the churches.

¹⁸If any man who is a Christian has had circumcision, let him keep so; and if any man who is a Christian has not had circumcision, let him make no change.

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing, and its opposite is nothing, but only doing the orders of God is of value.

²⁰Let every man keep the position in which he has been placed by God.

²¹If you were a servant when you became a Christian, let it not be a grief to you; but if you have a chance to become free, make use of it.

²²For he who was a servant when he became a Christian is the Lord's free man; and he who was free when he became a Christian is the Lord's servant.

²³It is the Lord who has made payment for you: be not servants of men.

²⁴My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him.

²⁵Now about virgins I have no orders from the Lord: but I give my opinion as one to whom the Lord has given mercy to be true to him.

²⁶In my opinion then, because of the present trouble, it is good for a man to keep as he is.

²⁷If you are married to a wife, make no attempt to get free from her: if you are free from a wife, do not take a wife.

²⁸If you get married it is not a sin; and if an unmarried woman gets married it is not a sin. But those who do so will have trouble in the flesh. But I will not be hard on you.

²⁹But I say this, my brothers, the time is short; and from now it will be wise for those who have wives to be as if they had them not;

³⁰And for those who are in sorrow, to give no signs of it; and for those who are glad, to give no signs of joy; and for those who are getting property, to be as if they had nothing;

³¹And for those who make use of the world, not to be using it fully; for this world's way of life will quickly come to an end.

³²But it is my desire for you to be free from cares. The unmarried man gives his mind to the things of the Lord, how he may give pleasure to the Lord:

³³But the married man gives his attention to the things of this world, how he may give pleasure to his wife.

³⁴And the wife is not the same as the virgin. The virgin gives her mind to the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit: but the married woman takes thought for the things of the world, how she may give pleasure to her husband.

³⁵Now I say this for your profit; not to make things hard for you, but because of what is right, and so that you may be able to give all your attention to the things of the Lord.

³⁶But if, in any man's opinion, he is not doing what is right for his virgin, if she is past her best years, and there is need for it, let him do what seems right to him; it is no sin; let them be married.

³⁷But the man who is strong in mind and purpose, who is not forced but has control over his desires, does well if he comes to the decision to keep her a virgin.

³⁸So then, he who gets married to his virgin does well, and he who keeps her unmarried does better.

³⁹It is right for a wife to be with her husband as long as he is living; but when her husband is dead, she is free to be married to another; but only to a Christian.

⁴⁰But it will be better for her to keep as she is, in my opinion: and it seems to me that I have the Spirit of God.

I Corinthians 11:3, 8-9

³But it is important for you to keep this fact in mind, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.

⁸For the man did not come from the woman, but the woman from the man.

⁹And the man was not made for the woman, but the woman for the man.

I Corinthians 13:1-13

¹If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like sounding brass, or a loud-tongued bell.

²And if I have a prophet's power, and have knowledge of all secret things; and if I have all faith, by which mountains may be moved from their place, but have not love, I am nothing.

³And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me.

⁴Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride;

⁵Love's ways are ever fair, it takes no thought for itself; it is not quickly made angry, it takes no account of evil;

⁶It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but has joy in what is true;

⁷Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things.

⁸Though the prophet's word may come to an end, tongues come to nothing, and knowledge have no more value, love has no end.

⁹For our knowledge is only in part, and the prophet's word gives only a part of what is true:

¹⁰But when that which is complete is come, then that which is in part will be no longer necessary.

¹¹When I was a child, I made use of a child's language, I had a child's feelings and a child's thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child.

¹²For now we see things in a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now my knowledge is in part; then it will be complete, even as God's knowledge of me.

¹³But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

II Corinthians 6:14

¹⁴Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark?

Ephesians 5:22-33

²²Wives, be under the authority of your husbands, as of the Lord.

²³For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, being himself the saviour of the body.

²⁴And as the church is under Christ's authority, so let wives be under the rule of their husbands in all things.

²⁵Husbands, have love for your wives, even as Christ had love for the church, and gave himself for it;

²⁶So that he might make it holy, having made it clean with the washing of water by the word,

²⁷And might take it for himself, a church full of glory, not having one mark or fold or any such thing; but that it might be holy and complete.

²⁸Even so it is right for husbands to have love for their wives as for their bodies. He who has love for his wife has love for himself:

²⁹For no man ever had hate for his flesh; but he gives it food and takes care of it, even as Christ does for the church;

³⁰Because we are parts of his body.

³¹For this cause will a man go away from his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

³²This is a great secret: but my words are about Christ and the church.

³³But do you, everyone, have love for his wife, even as for himself; and let the wife see that she has respect for her husband.

Colossians 3:18-19

¹⁸Wives, be under the authority of your husbands, as is right in the Lord.

¹⁹Husbands, have love for your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Hebrews 13:4

⁴Let married life be honoured among all of you and not made unclean; for men untrue in married life will be judged by God.

I Peter 3:1-7

¹Wives, be ruled by your husbands; so that even if some of them give no attention to the word, their hearts may be changed by the behaviour of their wives,

²When they see your holy behaviour in the fear of God.

³Do not let your ornaments be those of the body such as dressing of the hair, or putting on of jewels of gold or fair clothing;

⁴But let them be those of the unseen man of the heart, the ever-shining ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great price in the eyes of God.

⁵And these were the ornaments of the holy women of the past, whose hope was in God, being ruled by their husbands:

⁶As Sarah was ruled by Abraham, naming him lord; whose children you are if you do well, and are not put in fear by any danger.

⁷And you husbands, give thought to your way of life with your wives, giving honour to the woman who is the feebler vessel, but who has an equal part in the heritage of the grace of life; so that you may not be kept from prayer.

Revelation 19:7-9

⁷Let us be glad with delight, and let us give glory to him: because the time is come for the Lamb to be married, and his wife has made herself ready.

⁸And to her it was given to be clothed in delicate linen, clean and shining: for the clean linen is the righteousness of the saints.

⁹And he said to me, Put in the book, Happy are the guests at the bride-feast of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God.