24 Bible Verses About Love and Strength

Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

Psalm 62:11-12 ESV

God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.

Psalm 62:11-12 KJV

The psalmist says he has heard two things from God: that power belongs to God, and that steadfast love belongs to him too. The KJV calls it mercy. Read side by side, the pair answers two fears at once. Power without love would be frightening, and love without power would be helpless. The same lines say God repays each person according to their work, so this is not sentimental. It describes a God strong enough to set things right and kind enough to be trusted.

“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

Exodus 15:13 ESV

Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

Exodus 15:13 KJV

Sung after Israel crossed the sea, this line places love and strength in one sentence: God led the people he had redeemed in his steadfast love and guided them by his strength to his holy dwelling. The KJV says mercy. Love set the direction, and strength carried them along it. The song credits both to God, and it is sung by people who had been terrified when Pharaoh's army drew near. Their own courage is not what it celebrates.

But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

Psalm 59:16-17 ESV

But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.

Psalm 59:16-17 KJV

Psalm 59 is headed as David's, from the time Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him. In that danger the psalmist sings of God's strength and of his steadfast love in the morning, and calls God his strength and his fortress. Strength here is not something he summons from himself; it is a name he gives to God. The heading sets the song inside the danger, not safely after it.

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 KJV

God is pictured in the midst of his people as a mighty one who will save, and in the same verse as someone rejoicing over them with gladness and singing. The ESV says he will quiet you by his love; the KJV says he will rest in his love. The strength and the tenderness belong to the same God. If strength has mostly meant something that intimidates you, this is another picture: power that stays close and is glad.

I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 18:1-2 ESV

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Psalm 18:1-2 KJV

The psalm is headed as David's song from the day the LORD rescued him from his enemies and from Saul. The ESV has him say, I love you, O LORD, my strength; the KJV makes it a resolve, I will love thee. Then comes a run of names: rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, stronghold. Love here is a response to being rescued. The psalmist is not loving an idea; he loves the one who held him up.

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 ESV

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 KJV

The voice in this poem calls love as strong as death, and says many waters cannot quench it and floods cannot drown it. Love here is not fragile or decorative. It has the force of something that will not be stopped, and it cannot be bought either, whatever wealth is offered for it. The Song speaks of love between a man and a woman, but its claim reaches further: real love is one of the strongest things there is.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:37-39 ESV

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:37-39 KJV

Paul says that in all the hardships he names in this chapter, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The strength is not credited to the believer's grit; it comes through the one who loved. Then he lists what cannot separate us from God's love in Christ, from death and life to anything else in all creation. In this passage the strength belongs to the love, not to the person trying to hold on to it.

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Isaiah 54:10 ESV

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

Isaiah 54:10 KJV

God says the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but his steadfast love will not depart from his people, nor his covenant of peace be removed. The KJV says kindness. Mountains were the most permanent thing an ancient reader could point to, and God's love is said to outlast them. The chapter speaks to his people under the picture of a grieving, abandoned wife. When everything solid seems to be moving, this names one thing that will not.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV

The voice in Lamentations 3 has seen the city fall, and in the middle of that grief says the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases and his mercies are new every morning. The KJV says it is because his compassions fail not that we are not consumed. This is not cheerfulness. It is a claim made from the rubble: what holds through disaster is not human strength but a love that does not run out.

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:16-19 ESV

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Ephesians 3:16-19 KJV

Paul prays that his readers would be strengthened with power through God's Spirit in the inner being, and in the same prayer that they would be rooted and grounded in love. The strength he asks for has a purpose: to grasp how wide and long and high and deep Christ's love is. Read that way, taking in God's love takes strength, which may be why it can feel hardest to believe on the days you feel weakest.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ESV

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 KJV

Israel is told that the LORD is one and is to be loved with all the heart, all the soul and all the might. The Hebrew word behind might, me'od, is usually an adverb meaning very or exceedingly, so the command is something like love him with all your muchness. Strength is not held back as a separate reserve. It is one of the things love spends itself through, whatever amount of it you have today.

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:29-31 ESV

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:29-31 KJV

Asked which commandment matters most, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy, and in Mark's account the list includes all your strength. He then joins to it the command to love your neighbour as yourself. The two are given together. Read that way, strength is meant for both: the energy poured into a sick friend, a difficult colleague or a long day of caring counts as part of loving God, not as a distraction from it.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

Psalm 28:7 ESV

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

Psalm 28:7 KJV

The psalmist calls the LORD his strength and his shield, says his heart trusts and he is helped, and then that his heart exults and he gives thanks in song. Strength and affection move in a circle here. He leans on God, is held up, and answers with gladness and praise. It reads like a relationship rather than a transaction: help received, and love given back.

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 KJV

Paul gathers short commands for the church in Corinth: be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Both the ESV and KJV keep the masculine idiom, a call to courage in a letter addressed to the whole church. Then comes the instruction that everything be done in love. Strength without love can turn harsh, and love without strength can give way under pressure. Paul asks for both together.

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Romans 15:1-2 ESV

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.

Romans 15:1-2 KJV

Paul says those who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please themselves, but to please their neighbour for their good, to build them up. Strength here is not a reason to be impatient with people who struggle; it is something to be spent on them. In Romans the immediate issue is conscience about food and holy days, but the principle reaches anywhere one person is carrying more than another.

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2 ESV

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2 KJV

Bearing one another's burdens is called fulfilling the law of Christ. Love here has weight to it: it means getting underneath something heavy that belongs to someone else. In the same chapter Paul also says each person will carry their own load, so this is not a call to carry everyone's whole life for them. It is strength lent where it is needed, and many women will recognise how much of their week already looks like this.

being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

Colossians 1:11 ESV

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

Colossians 1:11 KJV

This is part of Paul's prayer for the Colossians: that they would be strengthened with all power, according to God's glorious might. The goal of all that power is surprising: endurance and patience with joy. The KJV says longsuffering. On this reading, God's strength often shows up as the ability to keep loving difficult people and to wait well, rather than as anything dramatic. It is asked for in prayer, not manufactured.

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:2-3 ESV

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:2-3 KJV

Paul links love with humility, gentleness and patience, and describes it as bearing with one another. That phrase assumes the people you love will sometimes be hard to bear. He adds that believers should be eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; the KJV says endeavouring. Love on an ordinary day takes a steady kind of strength, the strength to stay gentle when you would rather snap.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 KJV

Written to a church troubled by rivalry, these lines describe love by what it does: patient and kind, not envious or rude, not insisting on its own way, bearing, believing, hoping and enduring all things. That last run is a description of strength as much as of love. Enduring means love does not give up on people. It has never meant staying where you are being harmed, and the same passage says love rejoices with the truth.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 KJV

Paul has asked for a thorn in the flesh to be taken away, and the answer he records is that God's grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in weakness. Paul does not say what the thorn was, and readers have guessed ever since. What he concludes is that when he is weak, then he is strong. For anyone too depleted to love well, weakness is not a disqualification here; it is where strength is shown.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31 ESV

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31 KJV

God gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have none. Even the young, the passage says, grow weary and fall. The promise is for those who wait on the LORD: they renew their strength, mount up with wings like eagles, run without growing weary, walk without fainting. Walking without fainting is on that list. On some days that is the miracle, and it counts just as much as flying.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:26 ESV

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

Psalm 73:26 KJV

Psalm 73 is headed as Asaph's, and in it the psalmist admits he nearly slipped while envying people who seemed to prosper. Here he says plainly that his flesh and his heart may fail. He does not pretend otherwise. But God is the strength of his heart and his portion forever. Strength is located outside himself. When your own reserves are honestly gone, this verse lets you say so and still have somewhere to stand.

Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10 ESV

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10 KJV

When the people weep as they hear the law read, they are told not to grieve, to eat and drink, and to send portions to those who have nothing prepared, because the joy of the LORD is their strength. Strength and generosity sit in the same instruction: part of being strengthened is making sure someone else has a meal. The joy is the LORD's before it is theirs, so it does not depend on how strong they feel.

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7 KJV

Paul reminds Timothy that God gave a spirit not of fear but of power and love and, in the ESV, self-control; the KJV says a sound mind. Power and love are named side by side as gifts, not achievements. The setting is courage for ministry and suffering, so this is not a verdict on anyone living with anxiety. It reminds a frightened believer of what has already been given, especially when fear feels like all there is.