Biblical Living

Preparing for marriage

What should I understand and cultivate as I consider and prepare for marriage?

Preparing for marriage means learning to give the faithful love that marriage requires. Scripture joins the goodness of companionship to a serious covenant, and it teaches the character, judgment, and responsibilities with which to enter it.

Explore Biblical Living 57 guides

You can begin this preparation before you know whether or whom you will marry. Receive God’s teaching about marriage, practice the obedience already before you, and consider honestly the life you would promise to share. The aim is to become ready for faithful companionship under the Lord, with a clear understanding of both its joy and its obligations.

Understand the companionship and covenant you would enter

Genesis 1:26–28 places both man and woman within humanity made in God’s image and entrusted with God’s world. Genesis 2:18–23 then brings the man’s need for a fitting companion into view. The animals do not supply that companionship; the woman is recognized as bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. The KJV’s “help meet for him” means help suited to him. This is a fellow human being with whom to share life. Begin by learning to regard a prospective spouse as a person to receive and honor before God.

Genesis 2:24 describes a man leaving father and mother, cleaving to his wife, and becoming one flesh with her. Cleaving conveys holding fast: marriage establishes a new, enduring union with its own loyalty. The passage joins this bodily and relational union to the companionship just described. To prepare for marriage is therefore to consider whether you are willing to bind your life faithfully to another person, giving the marriage the place that this new union requires.

Malachi 2:13–16 shows why that loyalty matters to God. The people bring offerings and ask why God does not receive them, while men deal treacherously with their wives. Verse 14 calls the wife a companion and “the wife of thy covenant”; the LORD has been witness between husband and wife. Their worship cannot excuse their betrayal. Marriage involves accountable faithfulness to a particular person before God. Cultivate integrity now so that the promise you make and the way you live belong together.

When questioned about divorce, Jesus returns to creation: God made male and female, the two become one flesh, and human beings must not put apart what God has joined (Matthew 19:3–6). He distinguishes Moses’ permission in the face of hard hearts from God’s purpose from the beginning (Matthew 19:7–9). Enter marriage intending enduring faithfulness. The passage’s exception concerning fornication, and Paul’s treatment of separation, an unbeliever’s departure, and a spouse’s death, also need their own careful attention (Matthew 19:9; 1 Corinthians 7:10–16, 39). A prior marriage calls for that fuller consideration before another commitment is made.

Further study: NET Bible translators and editors · Ming Him Ko · NET Bible translators and editors

Receive marriage as a good calling under the Lord

Paul recognizes differing gifts and circumstances in 1 Corinthians 7:7–9. He values remaining unmarried and also says that those who cannot exercise continence should marry. In this setting, continence means sexual self-control. Desire is a real consideration to bring honestly before God, but the rest of the chapter shows that marriage brings continuing obligations to a spouse. Prepare for that shared life, rather than treating the wedding itself as the completion of your growth in self-control.

In 1 Corinthians 7:25–35, Paul counsels in view of the “present distress,” the shortness of time, and his desire that believers attend to the Lord without distraction. He explicitly says that marrying is not sin. The married person must consider how to please a spouse, and these concerns have real weight. Take them seriously before promising yourself to someone: marriage will require time, attention, and care that rightly belong to the other person. The precise circumstances of the distress are not identified in the passage, so Paul’s counsel should not be turned into a rule that every Christian must remain unmarried.

First Timothy 4:1–5 identifies forbidding marriage as part of false teaching and teaches grateful reception of what God gives. You may desire marriage with gratitude while honoring faithful unmarried life. Jesus also teaches that people do not marry in the resurrection (Matthew 22:23–33). Marriage is a good earthly calling within a greater life with God. Let your preparation strengthen your devotion to him, so that a hoped-for marriage does not become the condition on which you are willing to obey him.

Further study: David Instone-Brewer

Seek a marriage ordered toward faithfulness to Christ

First Corinthians 7:39 tells a widow that she is free to marry whom she wills, “only in the Lord.” Paul gives her a real choice and places that choice under her allegiance to Christ. The most natural practical implication is marriage to someone who shares that allegiance. The immediate command concerns a widow’s remarriage; it also gives strong guidance to a Christian considering marriage for the first time. Since marriage binds lives together and requires sustained concern for a spouse, shared faith belongs near the center of that decision.

Second Corinthians 6:14–7:1 explains why spiritual allegiance matters. Paul contrasts righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, belief and unbelief, and God’s temple and idols. God’s people are his dwelling and are called to holiness because of his promises. The warning against being “unequally yoked together with unbelievers” addresses bonds that compromise belonging to God; the passage does not name marriage as its sole subject. Its relevance to choosing a spouse follows from the depth of the union being considered. Seek a marriage in which faithfulness to Christ can be pursued together.

This call to faithfulness does not require avoiding all contact with unbelievers. Paul expressly rejects that conclusion in 1 Corinthians 5:9–10. Nor does it require ending a marriage when only one spouse believes: in 1 Corinthians 7:12–16, the believer is to remain with an unbelieving spouse who is willing to live together. Paul calls the unbelieving spouse sanctified in relation to the believer and the children holy, then asks whether the believer knows that the spouse will be saved. The household is not treated as defiling the believer, but salvation is not guaranteed by the marriage. Choosing a new marriage and honoring an existing marriage are different responsibilities; neither passage should be used to cancel the other.

Deuteronomy 7:1–6 forbids Israel’s intermarriage with the named peoples of the land because they would turn Israel’s children toward other gods. That command belongs to Israel’s covenant and its entry into the land; its stated religious concern should guide how we understand it. Ruth, a Moabite, pledges herself to the LORD and to Naomi’s people (Ruth 1:15–18). Her story prevents treating foreign ancestry as the same thing as rejection of Israel’s God. In preparing for marriage, attend to actual faith and the direction of a person’s worship and obedience.

Further study: Donald G. McDougall · Caroline Johnson Hodge

Practice the love and repentance that shared life needs

The character needed in marriage grows through the obedience Christ already requires. Galatians 5:13–26 tells believers to use their freedom to serve one another in love and to walk in the Spirit. Its contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit includes strife, envy, and uncontrolled desire on one side, and love, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, meekness, and temperance on the other. Temperance is self-control. Practice these qualities in the relationships and responsibilities you have now; they prepare you to serve someone faithfully in marriage.

Colossians 3:12–17 grounds this practice in belonging to God as his chosen and beloved people. Put on mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience; bear with and forgive one another as Christ forgave you. Love binds these qualities together, while Christ’s peace and word shape the community’s life. These instructions precede the commands to wives and husbands in Colossians 3:18–19. Preparation for those responsibilities includes learning to receive Christ’s word, give thanks, and extend the mercy you have received.

First Corinthians 13:1–7 describes the love without which even impressive gifts and costly actions are empty. In its setting, Paul is correcting the church’s use of spiritual gifts, but the character of love also governs marriage. Charity means love: it is patient and kind, refuses envy and self-exaltation, does not seek its own advantage, and does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Its endurance belongs with its rejoicing in truth. Learn to seek another person’s good without making that person serve your pride or requiring silence about what is wrong.

Ephesians 4:25–32 makes love concrete in truthfulness, the handling of anger, honest labor, useful speech, kindness, and forgiveness. James 1:19–25 adds readiness to hear, slowness to speak and anger, and obedience to the word one has heard. These are practices to develop deliberately. Speak truthfully, listen before answering, refuse speech that corrupts, and use your words to build up the hearer. The purpose is the other person’s good and obedience to God, not simply the appearance of an agreeable relationship.

James 3:13–4:10 traces conflict to envy, selfish ambition, and desires that contend within people. The answer includes wisdom that is peaceable and willing to hear, submission to God, repentance, and humility. Preparing for marriage therefore includes examining your desires, confessing your own sin, and receiving correction. First John 1:5–2:2 joins honest confession to God’s forgiveness and to Jesus Christ’s advocacy. You do not prepare by pretending to be without sin; you prepare by walking in the light and learning to turn from sin through his grace.

Seek wisdom, recognize character, and learn from the biblical accounts

James 1:2–8 teaches believers facing trials to ask God for wisdom, trusting his generosity rather than being divided in their allegiance. That is a sound way to approach the weighty judgment involved in marriage. Proverbs 15:22–33 also commends counsel, willingness to receive reproof, and humility before honor. Pray for wisdom and welcome the judgment of people whose instruction is governed by the fear of the LORD. Receiving counsel requires teachability; it does not remove your responsibility to understand the commitment you are considering.

Proverbs 19:14 calls a prudent wife a gift from the LORD. Proverbs 31:10–31 unfolds a fuller picture of trustworthy strength: her husband can trust her, her work benefits the household, her hand reaches the poor, and wisdom and kindness shape her speech. The poem’s praise comes to rest on the fear of the LORD, beyond passing beauty (Proverbs 31:30–31). Learn to value that character in a spouse and cultivate corresponding faithfulness in yourself. The poem celebrates an accomplished woman’s life; its many works are not a timetable that every woman must finish before she may marry.

Genesis 24 describes the search for Isaac’s wife within God’s promise concerning Abraham’s descendants and the land. Abraham insists that Isaac must not be taken back from that land and allows for the possibility that the woman will not come (Genesis 24:1–9). The servant prays, watches Rebekah’s generous work at the well, learns about her family, and gives thanks to God (Genesis 24:12–27). The family hears his account, and Rebekah herself agrees to go when asked (Genesis 24:50–58). The account gives substance to prayer, observed conduct, and willing participation. Its oath, requested sign, and family arrangements belong to this particular mission; it does not command every believer to repeat them.

Ruth’s path to marriage is different. Having pledged herself to Naomi and the LORD, she works to provide food; Boaz treats her with protection and generosity and recognizes her faithfulness (Ruth 1:16–18; Ruth 2:2–16). When Ruth asks him to act as a kinsman, he acknowledges a nearer relative’s claim and then addresses that matter before witnesses (Ruth 3:9–13; Ruth 4:1–13). Her initiative and his response belong to this family’s need and its particular obligations. Attend to their kindness and honorable dealing without turning the threshing-floor encounter or the redemption transaction into a required courtship method.

Further study: Esther M. Menn · NET Bible translators and editors

Cultivate purity and prepare for faithful, generous intimacy

First Thessalonians 4:1–8 connects pleasing God with sanctification, being set apart for him: abstain from sexual immorality, live in holiness and honor, and refuse to wrong or defraud another. God gives his Holy Spirit, so this is part of obedience to him. Jesus also addresses adultery in the heart and the seriousness of turning away from what leads into sin (Matthew 5:27–30). Preparation begins with honoring another person’s body and your own, bringing desire under God’s will before and within marriage.

First Corinthians 6:13–20 explains why bodily conduct matters: the body is for the Lord, God will raise it, believers are members of Christ, and they have been bought with a price. Paul invokes the one-flesh union to expose the wrong of joining Christ’s members to a harlot. Sexual union has a weight that cannot be dismissed as merely bodily. His instruction is to flee fornication and glorify God in the body. The same passage follows the declaration that believers have been washed, sanctified, and justified (1 Corinthians 6:9–11). Past sin calls for repentance and faith in that cleansing, not the belief that faithful obedience is now impossible.

Hebrews 13:4 holds together the honor of marriage, the undefiled marriage bed, and God’s judgment of sexual unfaithfulness. First Corinthians 7:3–5 describes marital intimacy through reciprocal responsibility. The husband is to render “due benevolence” to his wife, and the wife to her husband; in this context it concerns their marital sexual duty. Verse 4 assigns authority concerning each spouse’s body to the other, making the responsibility expressly mutual. Temporary abstinence is to be by agreement, for fasting and prayer, with a return to life together. Learn the generosity and truthful communication such care requires. These spousal duties belong with the commands to love and honor one another and do not authorize force or coercion (Ephesians 5:25–29; 1 Peter 3:7).

Proverbs 5:1–23 joins the warning against adultery to a positive call to rejoice in one’s wife. The imagery of one’s own well and the command to be delighted always in her love direct desire toward enduring faithfulness (Proverbs 5:15–20). The LORD sees the person’s ways (Proverbs 5:21), so affection and accountability belong together. Prepare to cherish the person you marry, giving attention to a love that remains faithful rather than feeding desire for someone outside that covenant.

The Song of Solomon gives poetic expression to the delight of beloved people in one another (Song of Solomon 2:3–6, 16). Its request to be set as a seal upon heart and arm, and its picture of love that floods cannot quench or wealth purchase, convey the preciousness and tenacity of love (Song of Solomon 8:6–7). Such poetry helps us value affection and devoted belonging alongside duty. It does not guarantee that powerful feelings will by themselves sustain a marriage. Learn to welcome delight as a gift and to join it to the faithfulness Scripture commands.

Further study: NET Bible translators and editors · Eric Ortlund

Understand the responsibilities of a husband and a wife

Ephesians 5:15–21 calls believers to walk wisely, understand the Lord’s will, be filled with the Spirit, give thanks, and submit to one another in the fear of God. Paul then addresses wives and husbands distinctly. Wives are to submit to their own husbands as to the Lord; Paul calls the husband the head of the wife and appeals to the church’s relation to Christ (Ephesians 5:22–24). A woman considering marriage should understand this willing responsibility within marriage. Colossians 3:18 describes it as fitting in the Lord, so devotion to Christ continues to govern it.

The command to husbands is to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it (Ephesians 5:25–27). The example makes a searching demand on a man preparing to marry: his wife’s good must matter enough for costly, self-giving love. Christ’s work of cleansing and presenting his church explains the depth and purpose of that love. A husband is called to imitate Christ’s love; the passage does not make him his wife’s redeemer.

Paul continues from Christ’s love to the husband’s care for his own body: he nourishes and cherishes it, and he is to love his wife in that way (Ephesians 5:28–33). Genesis’ one-flesh language explains why seeking her good belongs to his own life. The passage closes by calling the husband to love and the wife to reverence her husband; reverence here concerns respect. Prepare to give that care and respect willingly. Colossians 3:19 expressly joins a husband’s love to the refusal of bitterness toward his wife.

First Peter 3:1–7 likewise addresses wives and husbands in their actual responsibilities. It commends a wife’s pure conduct, inward gentleness, and doing good without terror. It commands a husband to live with understanding and give honor to his wife, describing her as the weaker vessel while naming husband and wife as heirs together of the grace of life. Her vulnerability deepens his responsibility to honor her; it does not reduce her standing before God. Peter even connects his treatment of her with whether his prayers are hindered. Learn now the attentive, honorable conduct that such accountability requires.

These instructions concern an actual marriage. They should inform a choice of spouse and the expectations of both people before the covenant is entered. Titus 2:3–5 also places the learning of marital and household faithfulness within instruction from older women, and Titus 2:11–14 grounds godly living in grace that teaches and redeems. Receive sound teaching and learn from faithful obedience. Preparation includes understanding what you would undertake, rather than claiming a spouse’s place or authority before becoming one.

Further study: NET Bible translators and editors · Denny Burk · Christy Hemphill

Prepare to care for a household with diligence and trust

First Thessalonians 4:9–12 connects brotherly love with quiet, diligent work and honorable conduct toward others. First Timothy 5:3–8 makes provision for relatives an expression of faith, in a discussion of the care of widows. These passages call you to take material responsibilities seriously. Proverbs 24:27 gives the orderly wisdom of preparing one’s work in the field before building the house, while Proverbs 31:13–27 portrays capable labor for a household. Develop diligence and consider honestly how the people entrusted to you will be cared for. These texts do not prescribe a particular income or property threshold for marriage.

Marriage also changes the shape of family responsibility. Leaving father and mother and cleaving to a wife establishes a new union (Genesis 2:24). Yet Jesus condemns the use of a religious dedication to evade practical help owed to parents (Mark 7:6–13). A new household therefore needs both a clear loyalty between husband and wife and continued honor toward parents. Prepare to carry these responsibilities truthfully and together, without treating either the marriage or the wider family as though it cancels the other.

Psalm 127:1–5 joins dependence on the LORD in building a house with the recognition that children are his gift. It corrects anxious self-sufficiency and teaches gratitude; it does not promise every couple the same family circumstances. If children are entrusted to you, their care is a responsibility to receive seriously. Ephesians 6:1–4 speaks of honoring parents and charges fathers to bring children up in the Lord’s nurture and admonition rather than provoke them to wrath. Proverbs 1:8–9 names both a father’s instruction and a mother’s teaching. Prepare to give sustained care and instruction, with dependence on God.

James 4:13–17 teaches people making confident plans about their work and future to acknowledge that their life depends on the Lord. Apply that humility as you consider marriage: plan carefully, speak honestly about what you are undertaking, and obey the good you already know. You cannot secure every outcome before making a commitment. You can grow in the faith, love, diligence, and willingness to serve that will be required of you, entrusting your future to the Lord as you do.

Continue reading: Being a brother or sister

Read the passages

Scripture in context

43 contextual selections for this subject, including the passages cited above and further related reading. Every selected range is reproduced in full from the KJV. Context notes identify the setting and kind of evidence.

Creation narrative and blessing 1 selections
Genesis 1:26–31 KJV · In this guide

Context: The creation of humankind in God’s image, the blessing and commission of male and female, and the goodness of the completed creation.

1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Creation narrative 1 selections
Genesis 2:18–25 KJV · In this guide

Context: The lack of a corresponding companion, the creation and recognition of the woman, and the narrator’s explanation of marriage.

2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Particular covenant-family narrative 1 selections
Genesis 24:1–67 KJV · In this guide

Context: Abraham commissions the search for Isaac’s wife in relation to the promised land; the servant prays and observes, Rebekah and her family respond, and she becomes Isaac’s wife.

24:1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

24:2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:

24:3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

24:4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

24:5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?

24:6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.

24:7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.

24:8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.

24:9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

24:10 And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.

24:11 And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.

24:12 And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.

24:13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:

24:14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.

24:15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.

24:16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.

24:17 And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.

24:18 And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.

24:19 And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.

24:20 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.

24:21 And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.

24:22 And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold;

24:23 And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father’s house for us to lodge in?

24:24 And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor.

24:25 She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.

24:26 And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD.

24:27 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.

24:28 And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother’s house these things.

24:29 And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.

24:30 And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well.

24:31 And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.

24:32 And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men’s feet that were with him.

24:33 And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.

24:34 And he said, I am Abraham’s servant.

24:35 And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.

24:36 And Sarah my master’s wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.

24:37 And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:

24:38 But thou shalt go unto my father’s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son.

24:39 And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me.

24:40 And he said unto me, The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house:

24:41 Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.

24:42 And I came this day unto the well, and said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:

24:43 Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink;

24:44 And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the LORD hath appointed out for my master’s son.

24:45 And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.

24:46 And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.

24:47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.

24:48 And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter unto his son.

24:49 And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.

24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.

24:51 Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the LORD hath spoken.

24:52 And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth.

24:53 And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.

24:54 And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.

24:55 And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.

24:56 And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.

24:57 And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.

24:58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.

24:59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men.

24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

24:61 And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

24:62 And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country.

24:63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.

24:64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.

24:65 For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself.

24:66 And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.

24:67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Israelite covenant law and exhortation 1 selections
Deuteronomy 7:1–11 KJV · In this guide

Context: Moses instructs Israel concerning the named peoples of the land, warns that intermarriage will turn children to other gods, and recalls God’s electing covenant love.

7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

7:3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

7:4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.

7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

7:7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

7:8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

7:10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

7:11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

Israelite covenant law 1 selections
Deuteronomy 24:1–5 KJV

Context: Israelite law regulates a sequence of divorce, remarriage, and a forbidden return to the first husband; a following law protects the newly married man’s time with his wife.

24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

24:2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.

24:3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;

24:4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

24:5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.

Particular narrative 2 selections
Ruth 1:1–22 KJV · In this guide

Context: Famine and bereavement set the family’s circumstances. Naomi urges her Moabite daughters-in-law to return; Ruth commits herself to Naomi, Naomi’s people, and the LORD, and accompanies her to Bethlehem.

1:1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

1:2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

1:3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.

1:4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

1:5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

1:6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.

1:7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.

1:8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.

1:9 The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

1:10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.

1:11 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

1:12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;

1:13 Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.

1:14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.

1:15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

1:16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

1:17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

1:18 When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.

1:19 So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

1:20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

1:21 I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

1:22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth 2:1–23 KJV · In this guide

Context: Ruth gleans to support Naomi and herself; Boaz recognizes her loyalty and faith, provides generously, and directs that she be protected.

2:1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

2:2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.

2:3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

2:4 And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.

2:5 Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?

2:6 And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:

2:7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.

2:8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens:

2:9 Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.

2:10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?

2:11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.

2:12 The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

2:13 Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.

2:14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.

2:15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not:

2:16 And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.

2:17 So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.

2:18 And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.

2:19 And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz.

2:20 And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

2:21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.

2:22 And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field.

2:23 So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.

Particular narrative with family and property obligations 1 selections
Ruth 3:1–4:17 KJV · In this guide

Context: Naomi seeks Ruth’s rest, Ruth asks Boaz to act as kinsman, and Boaz resolves the nearer relative’s claim publicly before marriage and the birth that renews the family.

3:1 Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?

3:2 And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.

3:3 Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking.

3:4 And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.

3:5 And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.

3:6 And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her.

3:7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down.

3:8 And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.

3:9 And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.

3:10 And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.

3:11 And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.

3:12 And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I.

3:13 Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman’s part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the LORD liveth: lie down until the morning.

3:14 And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor.

3:15 Also he said, Bring the vail that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city.

3:16 And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her.

3:17 And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, Go not empty unto thy mother in law.

3:18 Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.

4:1 Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.

4:2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.

4:3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s:

4:4 And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.

4:5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

4:6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.

4:7 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel.

4:8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe.

4:9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi.

4:10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

4:11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Beth-lehem:

4:12 And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.

4:13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son.

4:14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.

4:15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.

4:16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.

4:17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Wisdom psalm 1 selections
Psalms 127:1–5 KJV · In this guide

Context: A song of degrees locates house-building, security, labor, and the gift of children in dependence on the LORD.

127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

127:4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

127:5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Wisdom instruction 2 selections
Proverbs 1:7–9 KJV · In this guide

Context: The fear of the LORD introduces an appeal to receive both a father’s instruction and a mother’s teaching.

1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

1:8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

1:9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Proverbs 5:1–23 KJV · In this guide

Context: A father’s instruction warns against adultery, urges distance from its path, commends delight in one’s own wife, and recalls God’s knowledge of a person’s ways.

5:1 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

5:2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

5:12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

5:14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.

5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

5:19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

5:23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Wisdom sayings 2 selections
Proverbs 15:22–33 KJV · In this guide

Context: A sequence of wisdom sayings commends counsel, appropriate speech, receiving reproof, the fear of the LORD, and humility.

15:22 Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

15:23 A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

15:24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

15:25 The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.

15:26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.

15:27 He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.

15:28 The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.

15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

15:30 The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart: and a good report maketh the bones fat.

15:31 The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

15:32 He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

Proverbs 19:13–14 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paired sayings contrast household grief with inherited goods and a prudent wife received from the LORD.

19:13 A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.

19:14 House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.

Wisdom saying 1 selections
Proverbs 24:27 KJV · In this guide

Context: A complete wisdom saying orders preparation of outside work and the field before building the house.

24:27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.

Wisdom poem 1 selections
Proverbs 31:10–31 KJV · In this guide

Context: A concluding poem praises a wife’s strength, trustworthiness, productive care, generosity, wise speech, and fear of the LORD.

31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

31:11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

31:12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

31:13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.

31:14 She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.

31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

31:16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

31:17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.

31:18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

31:19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

31:20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

31:21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

31:22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.

31:23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.

31:24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.

31:25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

31:26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

31:27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

31:28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

31:29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

31:31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Love poetry 2 selections
Song of Solomon 2:1–17 KJV · In this guide

Context: Poetic voices express beauty, delight, longing, restraint, invitation, and mutual belonging through garden and springtime imagery.

2:1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

2:2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

2:4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

2:5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

2:8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

2:10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

2:11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

2:12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

2:13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

2:17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Song of Solomon 8:5–14 KJV · In this guide

Context: The closing movement joins memories and family voices to the seal image, love’s strength and pricelessness, and the lovers’ final exchange.

8:5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.

8:6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

8:8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

8:9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

8:10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

8:12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

8:13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

8:14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

Prophetic covenant rebuke 1 selections
Malachi 2:10–16 KJV · In this guide

Context: A prophetic rebuke of covenant betrayal, profaned worship, and treachery toward the wife of one’s youth. Verses 15–16 contain difficult Hebrew wording.

2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

2:11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

2:12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.

2:13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.

2:14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.

2:15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

2:16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

Gospel commands 1 selections
Matthew 5:27–37 KJV · In this guide

Context: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses adultery and desire, decisive dealing with sin, divorce, and truthful speech without manipulative oaths.

5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:

5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:

5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:

5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.

5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.

5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Gospel teaching 3 selections
Matthew 19:1–12 KJV · In this guide

Context: Jesus answers a test about divorce by appealing to creation, addresses Moses’ concession and fornication, and responds to the disciples about marriage and celibacy.

19:1 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;

19:2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.

19:3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

19:10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

19:11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.

19:12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

Matthew 22:23–33 KJV · In this guide

Context: The Sadducees challenge resurrection through a question about successive marriages; Jesus corrects their understanding of Scripture and God’s power.

22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

22:24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

22:25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

22:26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

22:27 And last of all the woman died also.

22:28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

22:33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.

Mark 10:1–12 KJV

Context: Jesus answers a question about divorce through creation and then addresses the disciples about divorce and remarriage.

10:1 And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judæa by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.

10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.

10:3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?

10:4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.

10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

10:10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.

10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

Gospel teaching and rebuke 1 selections
Mark 7:6–13 KJV · In this guide

Context: Jesus condemns replacing God’s command with human tradition and exposes the Corban practice that excuses withholding help from parents.

7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:

7:11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.

7:12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;

7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

Apostolic clarification 1 selections
1 Corinthians 5:9–13 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paul distinguishes discipline within the Christian community from withdrawing from all immoral people in the world.

5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

5:13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Apostolic teaching and command 1 selections
1 Corinthians 6:9–20 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paul names sins incompatible with God’s kingdom, recalls the believers’ cleansing, and argues for bodily holiness from resurrection, union with Christ, and God’s purchase.

6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

6:14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Apostolic commands and contextual counsel 1 selections
1 Corinthians 7:1–40 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paul answers questions about sexual relations, married and unmarried callings, separation, mixed marriages, present circumstances, virgins, and widows.

7:1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

7:3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.

7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

7:6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.

7:7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.

7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

7:10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:

7:11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.

7:12 But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

7:13 And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

7:15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.

7:16 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

7:17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

7:18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.

7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

7:21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.

7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.

7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

7:25 Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.

7:27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

7:28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

7:30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;

7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

7:32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

7:33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.

7:34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

7:35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

7:36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.

7:37 Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.

7:38 So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.

7:39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

7:40 But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

Apostolic teaching on Christian love 1 selections
1 Corinthians 12:31–14:1 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paul’s description of love stands between discussions of spiritual gifts and their proper pursuit in the gathered church.

12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

14:1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

Apostolic exhortation 1 selections
2 Corinthians 6:11–7:4 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paul’s appeal for opened hearts surrounds a warning against incompatible fellowship with unbelief and idolatry, grounded in God’s covenant promises and a call to holiness.

6:11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

6:12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.

6:13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.

6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

6:15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

7:2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

7:3 I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.

7:4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

Shared Christian duties 4 selections
Galatians 5:13–26 KJV · In this guide

Context: Christian freedom is directed toward love and service; walking by the Spirit stands against the works of the flesh.

5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Ephesians 4:17–5:2 KJV · In this guide

Context: The new life in Christ replaces the old way of life with truthful speech, honest work, edifying words, kindness, forgiveness, and Christlike love.

4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;

4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

4:27 Neither give place to the devil.

4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

James 1:19–27 KJV · In this guide

Context: James joins receiving God’s word with restrained anger, doing what the word says, controlled speech, and practical care.

1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

1:20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

James 3:13–4:10 KJV · In this guide

Context: Wisdom from above is contrasted with envy and selfish ambition; conflicts are traced to disordered desires and answered with repentance and humility before God.

3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Shared Christian duties and household commands 2 selections
Ephesians 5:15–6:4 KJV · In this guide

Context: Spirit-filled wise living introduces instructions to wives, husbands, children, and fathers, with marriage interpreted through Christ and the church and the one-flesh union.

5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

6:2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

6:3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Colossians 3:1–21 KJV · In this guide

Context: Life with the risen Christ issues in putting off sin, putting on mercy and love, allowing Christ’s peace and word to govern, and obeying household instructions.

3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

3:6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

3:17 And what soever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

3:18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.

3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

3:21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

Shared Christian commands 1 selections
1 Thessalonians 4:1–12 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paul urges growth in pleasing God, sexual holiness and honor, brotherly love, quiet diligence, and honorable conduct toward outsiders.

4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

4:2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

4:5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:

4:6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.

4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

4:8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

4:10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

4:12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

Apostolic warning and teaching 1 selections
1 Timothy 4:1–5 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paul warns against false teaching, including forbidding marriage and imposing food restrictions, and speaks of grateful reception of God’s creation.

4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Apostolic instruction about family and church care 1 selections
1 Timothy 5:3–16 KJV · In this guide

Context: Paul distinguishes family obligations toward widows from the church’s provision for widows truly in need.

5:3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.

5:4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.

5:5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

5:6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

5:7 And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless.

5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,

5:10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.

5:11 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;

5:12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.

5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

5:14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

5:15 For some are already turned aside after Satan.

5:16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.

Apostolic instruction 1 selections
Titus 2:1–15 KJV · In this guide

Context: Sound teaching addresses ages and household responsibilities and is grounded in God’s grace, Christ’s redemption, and the hope of his appearing.

2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

2:6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

2:7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

2:8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

2:9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;

2:10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

2:15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Shared Christian exhortations 1 selections
Hebrews 13:1–6 KJV · In this guide

Context: Concluding exhortations join brotherly love, hospitality, solidarity with prisoners, marital honor, freedom from covetousness, and trust in God’s presence.

13:1 Let brotherly love continue.

13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

13:3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Shared Christian exhortation 2 selections
James 1:2–8 KJV · In this guide

Context: James addresses trials, perseverance, and asking the generous God for wisdom with undivided trust.

1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

James 4:13–17 KJV · In this guide

Context: James corrects presumptuous plans for business and the future by recalling life’s brevity, the Lord’s will, and responsibility to do known good.

4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

4:16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Household and shared Christian commands 1 selections
1 Peter 3:1–12 KJV · In this guide

Context: Peter instructs wives and husbands, including circumstances of unbelief, then addresses the community’s compassion, peace, and accountability before the Lord.

3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

3:2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

3:5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:

3:6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

3:9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

3:10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

3:11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Apostolic teaching and assurance 1 selections
1 John 1:5–2:2 KJV · In this guide

Context: Walking in God’s light includes truthful confession, cleansing, and reliance on Jesus Christ the righteous advocate rather than denying sin.

1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

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Sources & interpretation

The teaching starts with the cited Scripture. These consulted works inform wording, context, and interpretive questions. No qualified human review has been recorded for this guide.

What can Malachi’s difficult wording establish about the marriage covenant?

Malachi 2:14 clearly identifies the wife as companion and wife of covenant, with the LORD as witness. The Hebrew of 2:15–16 permits materially different reconstructions. The pinned KJV phrase “he hateth putting away” in verse 16 must not be silently replaced by a first-person sentence.

  • The passage addresses actual marital treachery within Judah’s wider covenant failure; 2:15 concerns the created unity and its intended offspring.
  • The elliptical one in 2:15 has been understood with reference to Abraham rather than directly to the created couple.
  • In 2:16, one approach supplies a first-person subject for God’s hatred of divorce; another relates hatred and divorce to the man who wrongs his wife.

STRONG: teach covenant fidelity from 2:14 and the repeated charge of treachery. Leave the disputed reconstruction of 2:15–16 open rather than making a decisive marital doctrine depend on it.

Further study: Ming Him Ko · NET Bible translators and editors

Further examination: Does the article retain what the passage explicitly establishes while allowing the difficult clauses to be studied without silently replacing the pinned wording?

How do “only in the Lord” and the unequal yoke inform choosing a spouse?

First Corinthians 7:39 directly qualifies a widow’s choice. Second Corinthians 6:14–7:1 speaks of incompatible allegiance, idols, God’s dwelling, and holiness within Paul’s appeal for opened hearts. Neither passage sets out a dating procedure; 1 Corinthians 7:12–16 also protects a continuing mixed marriage.

  • Read only in the Lord as requiring a believing spouse, with broader application to Christian marriage; apply the unequal-yoke warning to marriage through its demand for faithful allegiance.
  • Read the qualifier more broadly as action fitting Christian allegiance, and reserve the specific target of the unequal yoke for idolatrous or otherwise compromising associations. Hodge’s accessible note challenges the claim that Paul plainly prohibits all new mixed marriages.
  • Make 2 Corinthians 6:14 itself an exclusive marriage prohibition. This familiar application is narrower than the relationships actually named in the passage.

STRONG_INFERENCE: counsel marriage to a fellow believer primarily through 1 Corinthians 7:39 and the depth of marital union; use 2 Corinthians 6 as the broader allegiance argument. The exact historical referent of the yoke remains uncertain. Existing marriages and general social contact must receive their explicit Pauline qualifications.

Further study: Donald G. McDougall · Caroline Johnson Hodge

Further examination: Is the move from a widow’s command and a broader holiness warning to general spouse-selection guidance sufficiently clear, without presenting an inference as the passage’s only possible referent?

What should be learned from the marriage narratives and Paul’s reference to a virgin?

Genesis 24 explicitly connects the mission to Abraham’s promise and includes the possibility of refusal and Rebekah’s willingness. Ruth involves bereavement, care for Naomi, a kinsman, and a nearer claim. First Corinthians 7:36–38 is disputed as to the people and arrangement being addressed.

  • The virgin in 1 Corinthians 7:36–38 is a daughter or ward, with a father or guardian considering whether to give her in marriage.
  • The reference is to a fiancée and the man considering marriage with her.
  • Even under either identification, Paul’s local advice and the differing narrative arrangements do not establish an obligatory procedure for every later Christian couple.

STRONG: retain particular circumstances, prayer, character, willingness, and honorable dealings. Do not prescribe signs, family arrangement, a required initiator, a duration, or a parental veto as universal obligations from these units. The exact interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:36–38 is left unresolved.

Further study: Esther M. Menn · NET Bible translators and editors

Further examination: Do the narrative details remain instructive without being converted into commands, and is the distinction between willingly entering marriage and one prescribed social procedure maintained?

What does possessing one’s vessel mean in 1 Thessalonians 4:4?

The clear context commands abstention from fornication, holiness and honor rather than lust, and refusal to wrong another; it grounds obedience in God’s call and gift of the Holy Spirit.

  • Vessel denotes the person’s body, with the instruction concerning bodily self-control.
  • Vessel denotes a wife, and the verb concerns acquiring a wife or living with her honorably.
  • A proposed bodily reading understands a more specific sexual euphemism; the specialist argument was not independently inspected.

STRONG for the surrounding moral teaching; UNCERTAIN here about the precise metaphor. The article does not need to choose a translation in order to teach sexual holiness and respect, and does not use the disputed wording to invent a marriage-acquisition process.

Further study: NET Bible translators and editors

Further examination: Does the positive instruction remain faithful to all materially plausible readings without suggesting that the disputed word has been conclusively resolved?

How do mutual submission, distinct commands, and the head–body comparison belong together?

Ephesians 5:21 belongs to Spirit-filled living. Verses 22–24 address wives with the Christ–church comparison; verses 25–33 command husbands’ self-giving love and develop the unity of one body. The wider canon also expressly makes marital sexual responsibility reciprocal.

  • Differentiated headship: 5:21 introduces submission within ordered relationships, while the following commands specify a wife’s submission and a husband’s loving leadership.
  • Reciprocal submission: the household instructions express the shared self-giving of 5:21, and the head–body picture primarily stresses interdependence and unity.
  • Both the distinct commands and the bodily unity are explicit, while a comprehensive procedure for resolving every disagreement is not supplied in this passage.

STRONG for retaining each stated command and both textual comparisons. The article preserves the wife’s submission and husband’s costly love, as well as honor, respect, and unity; it does not manufacture a decision-making rule or erase distinctions through a general reciprocity slogan.

Further study: NET Bible translators and editors · Denny Burk · Christy Hemphill

Further examination: Does the preparation guide explain what each person must understand while letting both 5:22–24 and 5:28–31 constrain claims about the metaphor and its practical extent?

What further study is necessary when a previous marriage affects preparation?

Jesus’ appeal to creation, Matthew’s fornication qualification, Mark’s parallel, and Paul’s distinction among separation, an unbeliever’s departure, and death all belong in the evidence. A simple statement of permanence must not suppress those distinctions.

  • Some readings allow remarriage after the fornication exception and interpret an unbeliever’s departure as release from the marriage bond.
  • Other readings distinguish permission to separate from permission to remarry, or understand Matthew’s exception more narrowly.
  • Historical work on ancient divorce-by-separation informs the vocabulary but cannot by itself settle the moral force of Jesus’ and Paul’s instructions.

STRONG for the intended enduring covenant and for retaining the explicit qualifications; no general ruling on every divorce-and-remarriage case is claimed. This guide identifies the need for fuller Scriptural consideration before a new commitment when there is a prior marriage.

Further study: David Instone-Brewer

Further examination: Do the retained ranges and the main qualification prevent an unqualified permanence formula from being mistaken for a settled answer to every question of freedom to remarry?

  1. Genesis 2: translation and study notes

    NET Bible translators and editors · Biblical Studies Press, NET Bible · Undated online edition

    Clarifies the older KJV phrase “help meet” as fitting companionship; distinguishes the narrative’s explanatory statement from an isolated imperative.

    What was reviewed

    Genesis 2:18–24, especially notes 55–57, 61, 64, 67–71 on corresponding help, the woman, and the narrator’s explanation. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    Selected notes only. The guide obtains its explicit normative appeal to creation from Jesus in Matthew 19, and does not treat every inference in the notes as the Hebrew text itself.

  2. Be Faithful to the Covenant: A Technical Translation of and Commentary on Malachi 2.10–16

    Ming Him Ko · The Bible Translator 65(1), 34–48 · 2014

    Argues for actual marital betrayal within Judah’s covenant unfaithfulness and examines the difficult syntax of 2:15–16.

    What was reviewed

    PDF pp. 34–40; the commentary on 2:14–16 on pp. 45–46; selected surrounding paragraphs on pp. 41 and 44. DOI: 10.1177/2051677013518293. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    Partial reading. His reconstruction of motives is not established by the passage; the main article rests its covenant claim on the explicit language of 2:14.

  3. Malachi 2: translation and study notes

    NET Bible translators and editors · Biblical Studies Press, NET Bible · Undated online edition

    Displays competing explanations of the elliptical wording in 2:15 and alternative grammatical treatments of 2:16.

    What was reviewed

    Notes 19–25 accompanying Malachi 2:14–16, with the chapter text and surrounding notes. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    Translator proposals are not a consensus. The Abraham proposal and a supplied first-person pronoun are not silently inserted into the KJV article.

  4. 1 Corinthians 7 in the Light of the Graeco-Roman Marriage and Divorce Papyri

    David Instone-Brewer · Tyndale Bulletin 52(1), 101–116 · 2001

    Uses marriage documents to illuminate Paul’s vocabulary and the weight of spousal obligations; argues that ancient separation could effect divorce.

    What was reviewed

    Official article metadata and PDF pp. 101–109; pp. 110–114 discussion of marriage bonds, separation, remarriage, and the proposed setting of present distress. DOI: 10.53751/001c.30262. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    The cited papyri and secondary works were not independently inspected. His famine reconstruction and broader conclusions about remarriage remain arguments, not established premises of this guide.

  5. Unequally Yoked—A Re-examination of 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:4

    Donald G. McDougall · The Master’s Seminary Journal 10(1), 113–137 · 1999

    Reads the warning within Paul’s appeal for restored openness and resists restricting the yoke to one specific relationship without textual evidence.

    What was reviewed

    PDF pp. 113–120 and 124–132, including the literary frame, proposed referents, temple language, and the scope of separation. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    Selected pages, not the complete article. Alternative studies cited by the author were not thereby read. Broader applicability does not prove that Paul was addressing courtship directly.

  6. Married to an Unbeliever: Households, Hierarchies, and Holiness in 1 Corinthians 7:12–16

    Caroline Johnson Hodge · Harvard Theological Review 103(1), 1–25 · 2010-01

    Provides an explicit scholarly counterargument to treating 1 Corinthians 7:39 and 2 Corinthians 6:14 as an uncomplicated prohibition, and foregrounds the actual mixed households of 1 Corinthians 7.

    What was reviewed

    Publisher’s public Extract and displayed notes 5–6 and 8; especially note 6 questioning claims of an unambiguous Pauline prohibition of mixed marriage. DOI: 10.1017/S0017816009990289. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    The full article was not accessible or read. The public note establishes the author’s position but does not supply her entire argument; works it cites remain uninspected.

  7. Commentary on Genesis 24:34–38, 42–49, 58–67

    Esther M. Menn · Working Preacher, Luther Seminary · 2008-07-06

    Keeps the marriage account connected to Abraham’s promise and the characters’ actual actions rather than reducing it to an abstract courtship pattern.

    What was reviewed

    Narrative exposition from the opening through the paragraph describing the servant’s completed oath, including Abraham’s land concern, the prayer, Rebekah’s conduct and willingness, and the encounter with Isaac. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    The article’s conjectures about Rebekah’s opportunism and Isaac’s inner condition are not adopted. Its broad historical generalization about cousin marriage is not evidence for a Christian requirement.

  8. 1 Corinthians 7:36: translation notes

    NET Bible translators and editors · Biblical Studies Press, NET Bible · Undated online edition

    Records fiancée, daughter, and ward readings and a further ambiguity in the description attached to the situation.

    What was reviewed

    Verse text and notes 1–2 on the possible identification of the virgin and the description of age or passion. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    Only this verse’s notes were successfully inspected; the linked 7:38 and 7:39 note pages did not supply usable content. No universal parental or betrothal procedure is inferred from the disputed referent.

  9. 1 Thessalonians 4:4: translation note

    NET Bible translators and editors · Biblical Studies Press, NET Bible · Undated online edition

    Shows why the command’s clear holiness and honor should not be made to depend on one unacknowledged translation of vessel.

    What was reviewed

    The complete displayed note 1, including body, wife, and sexual-organ proposals for vessel. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    The note’s preferred reading is an interpretation; the specialist studies it cites were not inspected. The main article uses the surrounding explicit commands rather than deriving a spouse-acquisition procedure.

  10. The Wisdom of the Song of Songs: A Pastoral Guide for Preaching and Teaching

    Eric Ortlund · Themelios 45(3), 494–514 · 2020-12

    Explains how love poetry can form wise affection through its portrayal of lovers rather than by supplying a sequence of rules.

    What was reviewed

    Abstract; sections 1–5 on wisdom, poetic communication, patience, beauty, and romance; opening of section 6; selected passages from sections 8–10 and associated notes. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    Not a complete reading. The guide does not adopt his proposed continuous courtship chronology, universal claims about marital happiness, or a decisive divine-name interpretation of Song 8:6.

  11. Ephesians 5:21: translation note

    NET Bible translators and editors · Biblical Studies Press, NET Bible · Undated online edition

    Supports reading the household transition within Spirit-filled life rather than detaching it from the preceding exhortation.

    What was reviewed

    Verse and complete displayed note 1 on the participles connected with the command to be filled with the Spirit in 5:18. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    The grammatical connection alone does not settle the extent of reciprocity or the meaning of head in the following comparison.

  12. Does Ephesians 5 teach mutual submission?

    Denny Burk · Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood · 2019-08-21

    Argues that the household passage gives differentiated responsibilities and that the Christ–church comparison includes ordered submission.

    What was reviewed

    Core argument about the expression one another, the distinct commands in 5:22–25, and the Christ–church analogy. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    An advocacy article, not a neutral lexical survey. The distinct commands warrant attention, but broad claims against reciprocity must be tested against each context; no cited lexicon was independently read.

  13. Kephale is a Body Part: Unified Interdependence in Relationship in Ephesians 5

    Christy Hemphill · Priscilla Papers 35(2), 3–9; CBE International · 2021

    Argues that the head–body image must be interpreted through unified interdependence rather than an isolated word study.

    What was reviewed

    Opening framing, selected metaphor discussion, later paragraphs on the whole-body unity image, and conclusion. Accessed 2026-09-25 · Read in part.

    Selected sections only. The unity argument illuminates 5:28–31 but must also account for the explicit submission comparison in 5:22–24; the guide does not adopt every conclusion against hierarchy.