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Scripture for weddings, with context
Most wedding readings were not written about weddings. That isn’t a problem, but it is worth knowing, because the original setting is usually what makes the passage strong. These are grouped by what the couple wants the reading to say, with a line on where each one comes from.
The traditional readings
Chosen at most weddings for good reason. Worth a sentence of introduction so the couple hears them fresh.
4Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
Written to a church that was fighting, as a description of what they were failing to be. It works at a wedding because it defines love as behavior under pressure, not feeling under candlelight.
18Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name. 20The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.” 24Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
The first wedding, and the line Jesus later quotes: the two become one flesh. ‘It is not good for the man to be alone’ is the Bible’s first ‘not good.’
9Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up. 11Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone? 12If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Two are better than one; a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Practical, unsentimental, and the ‘three strands’ line is why couples choose it.
12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; 13bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do. 14Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. 15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. 17Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
Compassion, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and ‘above all love.’ A list a marriage can actually be measured against.
Promises and faithfulness
For couples who want the vows to be the center of the day.
16Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. 17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”
‘Where you go, I will go.’ Said by a widowed daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law, not by a bride. Still the best statement of chosen loyalty in the Bible, and the couple should know who said it.
6Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh. 7Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.
Love as strong as death, unquenchable by many waters. The Bible’s one book of love poetry, read plainly.
19I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. 20I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh.
God’s own betrothal vows to an unfaithful people: righteousness, justice, loving kindness, mercy, faithfulness. A high standard, spoken by the one who kept it.
Partnership and daily life
For couples who want the reading to describe an ordinary Tuesday, not just the wedding day.
10Who can find a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies. 11The heart of her husband trusts in her. He shall have no lack of gain. 12She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
The opening of the ‘excellent wife’ poem: worth more than jewels, trusted completely. Read just the first three verses unless the couple wants the whole acrostic.
2with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love. Written about a church, and it describes a kitchen just as well.
7Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. 8He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. 9By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
Love comes from God; if we love one another, God lives in us. Grounds the marriage in something larger than itself.
9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. 10In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another; 11not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality.
Sincere love, honoring one another above yourselves, patient in trouble. A checklist for the years after the honeymoon.
Second marriages and blended families
Readings that acknowledge a past without dwelling on it, and that include children if they are part of the day.
18“Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. 19Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
‘Don’t remember the former things. Behold, I will do a new thing.’ Said to exiles, and honest about starting again.
22It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
Mercies new every morning. A quiet way to say the past is not the last word.
1Unless Yahweh builds the house, they who build it labor in vain. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain. 2It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, eating the bread of toil, for he gives sleep to his loved ones. 3Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward.
Unless Yahweh builds the house, the builders labor in vain; children are a heritage. Brings the children into the reading.
12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; 13bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do. 14Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
Bearing with one another and forgiving. For a family being assembled from parts.
Less common, worth considering
For couples who want something the guests haven’t heard at the last five weddings.
63Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming. 64Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel. 65She said to the servant, “Who is the man who is walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” She took her veil, and covered herself. 66The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Isaac and Rebekah: he was out in the field at evening, looked up, and saw the camels coming. The Bible’s quietest love story.
1The third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. 2Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the wedding. 3When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.” 4Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.” 6Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews’ way of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it. 9When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn’t know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!” 11This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Jesus at a wedding in Cana, keeping the party going. A reminder that the first miracle was at a reception.
1I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. 2My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. 3Oh magnify Yahweh with me. Let’s exalt his name together.
‘Let us exalt his name together.’ For a couple who want the first thing they do as a married pair to be worship.
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. Nine words for a life together.
How to use this
Tell the couple where the reading comes from before the rehearsal, in one sentence. Ruth’s words to Naomi and Paul’s rebuke to Corinth are both stronger when the room knows what they are.