Relationships are messy. Falling in love, learning to care about someone else, struggling to understand a family member or to regain a friendship after a loss of trust – this is difficult. But our human connections are the most beautiful part of being alive. And whether you’re in the midst of a fight, head-over-heels for someone, searching for a forever person, or learning how to let someone in, take comfort in these beautiful Bible verses about loving others. May they encourage you, fill your heart, and strengthen your relationships.
1.
“But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
— Ruth 1:16-17
2.
“My beloved speaks and says to me:
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
it would be utterly scorned.”— Song Of Solomon 8:6-7
3.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
— Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
4.
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.”
— Romans 12:9-16
5.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
— John 15:12-13
6.
“You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity.”
— Colossians 3:12-14
7.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.”
— 1 John 4:7
8.
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
— 1 John 4:9-11
9.
“This is what the Lord requires of you: Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”
— Micah 6:8
10.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.”
— 1 John 4:18-19
11.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
— Proverbs 4:23
12.
“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
13.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
14.
“Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
— Luke 3:11
15.
“Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
— Hebrews 13:2
16.
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
— 1 Peter 4:8
17.
“Mightier than the waves of the sea is His love for you.”
— Psalm 93:4
18.
“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
— Galatians 5:14
19.
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
— Luke 6:31
20.
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
— Ephesians 4:2
21.
“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love.”
— Psalm 143:8
22.
“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”
— Luke 6:35
23.
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
— 1 John 4:8
Marisa Donnelly is a poet and author of the book, Somewhere on a Highway, available here.
