Bible readings for weddings

If you are planning a traditional Church of England, Roman Catholic or Jewish wedding, your minister or priest will almost certainly ask you to include a religious text as one of your readings - an extract from the Bible, or maybe a psalm. For Jewish weddings this may be from the Torah, the ancient Hebrew teachings on which the Old Testament was founded.

Working your way through biblical texts for something suitable can be a massive task if you are not familiar with them so ask your priest, vicar or rabbi for a list of suggestions. Below is a selection of opening lines for some of the most popular, but ask for more if nothing on our  - or your minister's - list strikes a chord. Once you have found the relevant places in the Old or New Testament, you can discuss with your minister exactly which verses you want to start and finish with.

If you are exchanging vows at a register office, in a civil ceremony at a licensed venue, you will not be allowed to include any readings with religious content or references.

OLD TESTAMENT  

Genesis 1: 26-28 (Creation)
Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness;
So that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky....

Genesis 2:18-25 (The foundation for marriage)
The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone;
I will make a helper suitable for him....  

Song of Solomon 2: 10-14 (Mutual Love)
My beloved spoke and said to me,
‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me....

Song of Solomon 4: 10-11
How delightful is your love, my sister my bride,
How much more pleasing is your love than wine...

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 (Changing times and seasons)
There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heaven
A time to be born and a time to die ...

Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 (Support and friendship)
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labour.
If they fall down, they can help each other up...

Proverbs 3: 3-12
Let love and faithfulness never leave you...

NEW TESTAMENT

Gospels

Matthew 5: 1-10 (Sermon on the mount)
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside, and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them saying: He said, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'...

Matthew 7: 21,24-27 (Judging others)
Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven... Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock...

Mark 10: 6-9, 13-16  (Unity)
But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female'. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh" ...

John 2: 1-11 (The wedding at Cana)
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee... When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine...

John 15: 1-8 (Growing love)
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit...

John 15: 9-17 (Love for others)
Jesus said to his disciples; ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you: now remain in my love

Epistles

1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 (Spritual gifts)
If I speak in human or angelic tongues but do not have love,
I am a only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal...
And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-10 (Spritual gifts)
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud...

1 Corinthians 13: 11-13
When I was a child I thought like a child,
I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child...

Ephesians 3: 14-21(Unity and holiness)
I kneel before the father, from whom every family in heaven and
earth derives its name...

Ephesians 4: 1-6 (Unity and holiness)
I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love...

Romans 8: 31-35 (Hope for the future)
What then shall we say in response to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?...

Romans 12: 9-13 (Life together)
Let love be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.
Be devoted to  one another...

Philippians 4: 4-9 (Thanksgiving)
Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, Rejoice.
Let your gentleness be evident to all...

Colossians 3: 12-17 (Respecting one another)
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience...

1 John 3: 16-19 (Duty and love)
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us...

1 John 4: 7-12 (Duty and love)
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God...

Psalms

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want,
He makes me lie down in green pastures...

Psalm 37
Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong...

Psalm 84
How lovely is your dwelling place...
Even the sparrow has found a home
And the swallow a nest for herself...

Psalm 95
Come let us sing for joy to the Lord...

Psalm 128
Blessed are all they that fear the Lord
who walk in obedience to him...

Psalm 139
Lord you have searched me and you know me,
You know when I sit and when I rise
You perceive my thoughts from afar...

Find out more
The obvious place to start when choosing a biblical reading is to consult your minister or open a bible. Bear in mind the many different translations before reaching for the old family bible as the more archaic phrasing of the King James translation of the early 17th century can be harder to follow that the more user-friendly New International Version dating from the 1970s.  For more information try www.biblegateway.com or www.ibs.org .

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