Bible Verses about Love

Maybe you are looking for a Bible verse about love for a wedding, an anniversary, or Valentine's Day. Maybe you just want to understand what love is according to the Bible. You've come to the right place. I've cataloged a large selection of "love" Bible verses by category, and if you don't find what you are looking for, please let me know in the comments. I'll do my best to help.

The best news and encouragement we could have from Jesus is this. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love." (John 15:9)

photo by Joe Lencioni

Read These Bible Quotes for Assurance That God Loves You

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV)

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! (1 Chronicles 16:34 ESV)

But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. (Psalm 13:5 ESV)

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23:6 NIV)

I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, (Psalm 31:7 ESV)

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)

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; (Lamentations 3:22 ESV)

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)

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 ESV)

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1 ESV)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (John 13:34 ESV)

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

(John 14:21b ESV)

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (John 15:9 ESV)

And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5b ESV)

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

(Romans 8:35, 37 ESV)

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV)

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 ESV)

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 ESV)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 John 3:1a ESV)

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16 ESV)

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 ESV)

I had the pleasure of hearing Floyd McClung teach on the love of God and I can't recommend his book highly enough.

The Bible's Love Chapter

This is the most famous passage about love in the Bible. It is the most read Bible passage at weddings, and for good reason. It poetically, yet practically, defines love, sets a very high standard for real love, and declares love to be eternal and to be sought after above all else.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

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.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

(1 Corinthians 13 ESV)

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV)

For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:3b ESV)

Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. (Joshua 23:11 ESV)

I love you, O LORD, my strength. (Psalm 18:1 ESV)

Love the LORD, all you his saints! (Psalm 31:23a ESV)

I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. (Psalm 116:1 ESV)

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. (Psalm 119:97 ESV)

Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name. (Psalm 119:132 ESV)

Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. (Psalm 119:165 ESV)

And he [Jesus] said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15 ESV)

But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV)

But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:3 ESV)

Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Ephesians 6:24 ESV)

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

(James 1:12 ESV)

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, (1 Peter 1:8 ESV)

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:21 ESV)

This excellent book about the Christian life as an exercise in loving God couldn't come from a more unlikely author. Charles Colson, Nixon's hatchet man, spent time in prison where he met God and was radically changed. His conversion has proved genuine over the past decades as he has dedicated his life to prison ministry and helping people in their walk with God. Highly recommended!

"Love one another"

but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:18b ESV)

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. (Proverbs 10:12 ESV)

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it. (Proverbs 15:17 ESV)

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. (Proverbs 17:17 ESV)

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 8:7 ESV)

And he [Jesus] said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. (Luke 6:35 ESV)

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 ESV)

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:9-10 ESV)

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:14 ESV)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, (Ephesians 5:25 ESV)

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8 ESV)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7 ESV)

Unhappiness in marriage often has a simple root cause: we speak different love languages, believes Dr. Gary Chapman. While working as a marriage counselor for more than 30 years, he identified five love languages: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. In a friendly, often humorous style, he unpacks each one. Some husbands or wives may crave focused attention; another needs regular praise. Gifts are highly important to one spouse, while another sees fixing a leaky faucet, ironing a shirt, or cooking a meal as filling their "love tank." Some partners might find physical touch makes them feel valued: holding hands, giving back rubs, and sexual contact. Chapman illustrates each love language with real-life examples from his counseling practice.

Did you find these Bible verses about love helpful? Do you have a favorite that I missed? Please share your comments in the guestbook.