Love is the key ingredient of God’s Word. God’s message for us is LOVE—we can call the Bible God’s love letter to us. Every verse in the Bible breathes God’s care, passion, and compassion for us. We can trace his love in numerous Bible verses.
When we love someone, we express that with words and actions. So does God. We can find every facet of God’s never-ending love for us throughout the Bible. His love for us compelled Him to give His only Son to die in our place, so we can be with Him forever!
We don’t (yet) communicate face-to-face with God, but we can receive His love through His Word, the Bible. A perfect way to experience God’s love is through His Word. If you want the best Bible verses about love, where do you start?
This blog article is a compilation of beautiful Bible verses about love.
How many times does the Bible say love?
In the Bible, God’s love letter, the word love is mentioned many times. The exact number depends on the translation we use. Isn’t that strange…? Actually, it is not. A key factor is that the English language uses the same word to describe various types of love. We can love our spouse, our kids, our neighbor, our food, the weather, a color, etc. The original languages used different words for the various types of love.
Depending on the Bible translation (version) we use, love is mentioned:
- 310 times in the Old King James Version (KJV).
- 348 times in the New American Standard Version (NASV).
- 361 times in the New King James Version (NKJV).
- 551 times in the New International Version (NIV).
- 552 times in the English Standard Version (ESV).
- 538 times in the New Revised Standard Version (NASV).
- 645 times in the New Living Translation (NLT).
What is the Bible verse that defines love?
The Bible verse that concisely describes God’s love for us is John 3:16 (NLT). This verse truly defines how much God loves us.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
We can find THE Bible verse that defines love in general, in Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 describes the way God wants us to love each other. Without love, we are nothing. Anything we will do or say outside of love is meaningless. Even if that means our faith… because faith without love is void.
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-7 (NLT)
What does Proverbs say about love?
Love is mentioned 26 times in the book of Proverbs, in the KJV. The verses about love touch on various aspects of it—God’s love for us, our love for God, our love for others, romantic love, altruistic love, the love for conflict, things we should not love, and things we should love.
Proverbs Chapter 8 speaks about our love for God and our reward for it. When we love Him, we will find Him and He will love us. Moreover, He promises wealth for our love for Him—though material gain shouldn’t be the basis for our love for Him. He wants a relationship first.
“I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me.”
Proverbs 8:17 (NLT)
“Those who love me inherit wealth. I will fill their treasuries.”
Proverbs 8:21 (NLT)
Proverbs also describes love among humans. Verse 17 shows how important love is compared to hate:
“A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.”
Proverbs 15:17 (NLT)
Hate makes things worse, love makes things better:
“Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.”
Psalm 36:5 (NLT)
What does Psalms say about love?
In the book of Psalms, love is mentioned 43 times (KJV). Many chapters in the Psalms sparkle with God’s love and our love for Him. Some of the best Bible verses about love can be found in the book of Psalms.
God’s love for us is unfailing and never-ending. Nothing can compare with God’s love for His creation.
“Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.”
Psalm 36:5 (NLT)
Scriptures show us also that God loves to hear us speak about His faithful love.
“Let all Israel repeat: ‘His faithful love endures forever’.”
Psalms 118:2 (NLT)
The Psalms have so many beautiful Bible verses about God’s love. Because of God’s love for us, we can enter His house and come close to Him.
“Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.”
Psalm 5:7 (NLT)
When we love God, He will protect us. He will not give us over to destruction.
The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked. Psalms 145:20 (NLT)
Psalms 145:20 (NLT)
God loves justice and wants us to be the same. Justice is in God’s core being—when we love justice, we will see God’s face:
“For the righteous Lord loves justice. The virtuous will see his face.”
Psalm 11:7 (NLT)
The book of Psalms also instructs how to love. Even when we are not loved, we continue to be loving. We should not let accusers, attackers, or gossipers derail our attitude of love. Rather, we should love them and pray for them. Praying for someone is a genuine expression of love.
“In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer.”
Psalm 109:4 (NLT)
What did Jesus say about love?
God is love (1 John 4:8 NLT). Jesus is love—His full being breathes love. Jesus came to show God’s love and teach about it:
“Teaching about Love for Enemies.”
Matthew 5:43 (NLT)
Jesus taught us that the main instruction for us as followers of Him is to love each other.
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”
John 13:34 (NLT)
He taught us to go to the extreme to express our love for others (as He Himself also did for us). He wants us to deny ourselves and our desires, and put that of others first. That shows true love.
“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:13 (NLT)
Jesus often used Old Testament truth to bring His message of love. Jesus did not come to end or break the law, He came to fulfill it. That’s the reason He often refers to or builds on the Scriptures. Jesus quotes, for example, from two Old Testament passages, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18, when He describes how to love God:
“’And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Mark 12:30-31 (NLT)
Loving your neighbor as yourself means you need to love yourself as well. There are many more Bible verses about self-love.
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Bible verse about love and marriage
The basis for marriage is love. God intended marriage to be a safe place for both husband and wife. In our marriage, we can reflect God’s love by the way we treat our spouse. A marriage stands with love and falls without love.
“For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.”
Ephesians 5:25-29 (NLT)
Bible verse about God’s love being with us
One of the best Bible verses about the never-ending, all-present, and strong love for us, is in Romans Chapter 8. No matter what we go through and no matter what people do to us, nothing-absolutely nothing-can separate us form His love for us. God’s love is always with us. His love for us is everlasting.
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, ‘For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.’ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:35-39 (NLT)
May you be blessed by the presence of God’s love in your life.
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
2 Corinthians 13:14 (NLT)
Let’s Pray
Father, where would I have been if it weren’t for Your love? I would have continued to live in pain, worry, self-doubt, and self-defeat. It is by grace that I got to know Your love for me. You first loved me. I don’t take that for granted.
I am grateful for Your promise of love that reflects in each verse in the Bible. I live based on Your unfailing and never-ending love for me. It is on Your Word that I stand.
Nothing can stop Your love for me, no matter what \ go through and no matter what’s happening around me.
Help me see others with the same love as You have for me. Let me not differentiate among people. Holy Spirit, endow me with Your love and help me live accordingly.
Thank You.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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