Wedding ceremony readings
Bible verses for a wedding ceremony
1 Corinthians 13 is the passage most often read at weddings, and Genesis 2, Ruth 1, Song of Solomon 8, Ecclesiastes 4 and Colossians 3 are the others that come up again and again. All of them are public domain in the King James text, so the words are printed here in full and can go straight into a ceremony script.
The King James text is the one most guests half-remember, which is why it is what we print. If the couple prefers another translation, paste it in — the script is yours to edit, and the timing recalculates around whatever length you end up with.
Every passage below was diffed against a full-text edition rather than typed from memory. That matters more than it sounds: a reading is delivered aloud, off a printed page, in front of people who know it by heart.
20 bible verses for a wedding ceremony, shortest first
- 20 secondsMark 10:6–9King James Bible · Mark's shorter version of the same passage.
- 20 seconds1 Peter 4:8–10King James Bible · Twenty seconds, and it covers hospitality and forgiveness.
- 25 secondsMatthew 19:4–6King James Bible · Where "let no man put asunder" comes from.
- 30 secondsRuth 1:16–17aKing James Bible · Said between two women, and the most quoted promise in scripture.
- 30 secondsSong of Solomon 8:6–7King James Bible · Fierce rather than sweet. "Many waters cannot quench love."
- 35 secondsEcclesiastes 4:9–12King James Bible · Plain and practical. Works at a service with almost no religious framing.
- 35 secondsJohn 15:9–12King James Bible · A gospel reading, short enough to sit anywhere in the ceremony.
- 35 secondsPsalm 100King James Bible · Short, glad, and useful right at the top of a service.
- 40 secondsSong of Solomon 2:10–13King James Bible · The one that sounds like a love letter, because it is one.
- 40 secondsPsalm 128King James Bible · The household psalm — the responsorial at most Catholic weddings.
- 40 secondsTobit 8:5–8King James Bible · The Catholic favourite — "that we may become aged together."
- 45 seconds1 Corinthians 13:4–8aKing James Bible · The short form — the one most people mean by "the love passage".
- 50 secondsEphesians 3:14–19King James Bible · "Rooted and grounded in love" — and it names both families at once.
- 55 seconds1 John 4:7–12King James Bible · The passage that says plainly where the tradition thinks love comes from.
- 55 secondsEshet Chayil — A Woman of Valour (Proverbs 31, JPS 1917)JPS 1917 translation · Sung on Shabbat, read at the funeral of a mother or grandmother.
- a minute and a halfProverbs 31:10–12, 25–31King James Bible · Read at weddings, and often at the funeral of a mother or grandmother.
- a minute and a halfColossians 3:12–17King James Bible · About the daily work of it — forbearing and forgiving.
- a minute and a halfGenesis 2:18–24King James Bible · The oldest answer to why anyone marries: it is not good to be alone.
- a minute and a halfRomans 12:9–18King James Bible · "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."
- two minutes1 Corinthians 13:1–13King James Bible · The whole chapter, including "through a glass, darkly".
Questions
Bible verses for a wedding ceremony: what is usually chosen?
1 Corinthians 13 is the passage most often read at weddings, and Genesis 2, Ruth 1, Song of Solomon 8, Ecclesiastes 4 and Colossians 3 are the others that come up again and again. All of them are public domain in the King James text, so the words are printed here in full and can go straight into a ceremony script.
Which of these can be printed in the script?
20 of the 20 readings on this page are public domain, so their full text is printed on this site and can go into a ceremony script or an order of service. The rest are named with their author and a note on where to get a copy — we do not reproduce text that is still in copyright.
Texts last checked 2026-07-25.
The reading is two minutes. The ceremony is the rest of it.
Answer some questions about the couple and get the whole thing written out — the welcome, their story, the vows, the ring exchange, the pronouncement — with your chosen readings already in place and the timing worked out around them.