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Bible Verses About Love
Almost everyone knows one passage about love in the Bible, and almost everyone knows it out of context.
“Love is patient, love is kind” gets read at weddings, printed on cards, embroidered on cushions. It was written to a church in Corinth that was suing one another in public courts, splitting into factions over which preacher they preferred, and turning communion into an occasion where the rich ate first and the poor went hungry. Paul is not describing a feeling between two people who have just met. He is telling a group of difficult people how to keep being in a room together.
Which makes it far more useful than the wedding version. “Love is patient” lands differently when you realise it was aimed at people who were being genuinely unbearable to each other.
The rest of what the Bible says about love runs along the same line. It is defined by what it does and what it costs — “God so loved the world that he gave”; “greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life.” The feeling is welcome when it turns up. It is never the measure.
And underneath all of it sits a claim that is easy to read past: not that God is loving, but that God is love. Take one verse below and sit with it.
12 verses for when you need them
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 ESVCharity 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 KJVRead at almost every wedding, written to a church that was suing each other and fighting over communion. It is a rebuke before it is a romance — which is exactly what makes it usable on a hard Tuesday.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:7-8 ESVBeloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:7-8 KJVNot “God is loving” but “God **is** love.” The claim is about what He is made of, which means love is not a mood He is in and can come out of.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 ESVFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 KJVThe most familiar verse in the language, and the grammar is worth slowing down for: loved, therefore gave. Love here is measured in what it cost, not in what it felt.
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 8:38-39 ESVFor 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 8:38-39 KJVPaul makes a list precisely so you can look for your situation on it. Death, life, the present, the future, height, depth — he is trying to close every exit.
We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19 ESVWe love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19 KJVThe order of the sentence is the whole gospel. You are not being asked to generate love; you are being asked to pass some on.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:12-13 ESVThis is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:12-13 KJVJesus defines the standard as His own laying down of life, and He said it to the people who were about to abandon Him.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:14 ESVAnd above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Colossians 3:14 KJVLove as the outer garment that holds the rest together. Paul has just listed kindness, humility, patience — this is what stops them being separate virtues.
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 ESVAnd above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 KJV“Covers a multitude of sins” is not concealment. It is the decision not to keep bringing something up once it has been dealt with.
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Ephesians 4:2 ESVWith all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Ephesians 4:2 KJVForbearing one another *in love* — the verse assumes people will need putting up with. It is remarkably unromantic and therefore useful.
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 ESVSet 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 KJVThe only book in the Bible that is straightforwardly a love poem. Many waters cannot quench it — written about human love, which the Bible refuses to treat as trivial.
the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Jeremiah 31:3 ESVThe LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Jeremiah 31:3 KJV“With lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Said to a people in exile because of their own choices, which is when they would least have expected to hear it.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;
Psalm 136:1-3 ESVO give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalm 136:1-3 KJVThe refrain repeats twenty-six times in the full psalm. Repetition is the point — some things have to be said again and again before they are believed.
If “God loves you” has become a sentence you can hear without it meaning anything, you are in good company — familiarity wears words smooth.
One thing that sometimes helps: notice **who** these were originally said to. Jeremiah 31 was spoken to a nation in exile because of its own choices. John 15 was said to men who would run away within hours. The Corinthians were behaving appallingly. None of these were written to people who had earned it, which is the only reason they are any use to the rest of us.
And if you are trying to love someone difficult right now — a spouse, a parent, a grown child who is not speaking to you — start with Ephesians 4:2 rather than 1 Corinthians 13. Forbearance is the unglamorous end of love, and it is where most of the actual work happens.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.