Most people have experienced a version of love that eventually ran out. The kind that was conditional on the other person behaving correctly, on circumstances cooperating, on feelings showing up consistently enough to make the whole thing feel worth continuing. And when those things stopped, the love stopped with them — which raises the uncomfortable question of whether what was there was really love at all, or something that looked like it from a comfortable distance. Scripture does not let that question stay comfortable. It defines love in ways that have nothing to do with how things are going — and everything to do with a choice made daily, a character demonstrated consistently, and a God who loved first and loved completely before anyone had done anything to earn it.
That’s exactly what this collection of Bible quotes about love is here to explore. You’ll find the best Scripture quotes on God’s love for you, loving others with the same generosity you have been loved with, love in marriage and friendship, the love that covers a multitude of sins, the love that casts out fear, and the extraordinary invitation to experience and extend a love that does not depend on feelings to remain faithful. Read them when love feels abundant and let them show you how much further it can go. Read them when love feels impossible and let them remind you where the real thing actually comes from. God did not just describe love in Scripture — He defined it by becoming it. And every quote here points straight back to Him.
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What Love Is Made Of — Not a Feeling, a Substance
- “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” — 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 (NIV)
- “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” — 1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV)
- “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” — 1 Corinthians 13:2 (NIV)
- “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” — 1 Corinthians 13:3 (NIV)
- “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” — 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)
- “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” — Colossians 3:14 (NIV)
- “Let love be genuine. Hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” — Romans 12:9 (ESV)
- “Love must be sincere.” — Romans 12:9 (NIV)
- “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” — Romans 13:10 (ESV)
- “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” — Galatians 5:14 (NIV)
- “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” — 1 Timothy 1:5 (NIV)
- “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up.” — 1 Corinthians 8:1 (NIV)
- “Do everything in love.” — 1 Corinthians 16:14 (NIV)
- “Walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” — Ephesians 5:2 (NIV)
- “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” — 1 Peter 4:8 (NIV)
- “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” — Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)
God’s Love — the Original That Every Other Love Tries to Imitate
- “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” — 1 John 4:16 (NIV)
- “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” — 1 John 4:10 (NIV)
- “We love because he first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19 (NIV)
- “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” — 1 John 4:8 (NIV)
- “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16 (NIV)
- “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” — Romans 5:8 (NIV)
- “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.'” — Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)
- “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” — 1 John 3:1 (NIV)
- “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 8:38–39 (NIV)
- “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” — Romans 8:35 (NIV)
- “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” — Psalm 103:8 (NIV)
- “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” — Psalm 107:1 (NIV)
- “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.” — Psalm 36:5 (NIV)
- “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord.” — Isaiah 54:10 (NIV)
- “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” — Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)
- “His banner over me was love.” — Song of Solomon 2:4 (ESV)
Love Quotes From Jesus — the Ones He Said Himself
- “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” — John 13:34 (NIV)
- “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” — John 15:12 (NIV)
- “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” — John 15:13 (NIV)
- “You are my friends if you do what I command.” — John 15:14 (NIV)
- “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” — John 13:35 (NIV)
- “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” — Mark 12:30 (NIV)
- “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” — Mark 12:31 (NIV)
- “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” — Matthew 22:40 (NIV)
- “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” — Matthew 5:44–45 (NIV)
- “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” — Matthew 5:46 (ESV)
- “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” — John 15:9 (NIV)
- “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” — John 15:5 (NIV)
- “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” — John 15:11 (NIV)
- “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit — fruit that will last.” — John 15:16 (NIV)
- “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” — John 3:17 (NIV)
- “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” — John 10:11 (NIV)
The Love That Chose You Before You Had Anything to Offer
- “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” — Ephesians 1:4–5 (NIV)
- “I have called you by name; you are mine.” — Isaiah 43:1 (NIV)
- “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” — Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)
- “You are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you.” — Isaiah 43:4 (NIV)
- “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” — Isaiah 49:15–16 (NIV)
- “The Lord your God chose you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you.” — Deuteronomy 7:6–8 (NIV)
- “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” — Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
- “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge.” — Psalm 73:28 (NIV)
- “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” — Ephesians 1:7–8 (NIV)
- “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love.” — Ephesians 1:4 (MSG)
- “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.” — John 6:44 (NIV)
- “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” — Ephesians 2:13 (NIV)
- “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” — Titus 3:4–5 (NIV)
- “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” — Deuteronomy 7:6 (NIV)
- “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” — Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)
- “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” — Ephesians 3:17–18 (NIV)
Love That Costs Something Every Single Day
- “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” — 1 John 3:16 (NIV)
- “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” — 1 John 3:18 (NIV)
- “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” — Mark 10:45 (NIV)
- “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.” — Philippians 2:5–7 (NIV)
- “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
- “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” — 1 Corinthians 10:24 (ESV)
- “Nobody should seek their own good, but the good of others.” — 1 Corinthians 10:24 (NIV)
- “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.” — Romans 15:1–2 (NIV)
- “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” — 2 Corinthians 5:15 (NIV)
- “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” — 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)
- “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” — Ephesians 5:25 (NIV)
- “This is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.” — 2 John 1:6 (NIV)
- “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” — 1 John 3:17 (NIV)
- “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” — James 2:15–16 (NIV)
- “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” — Proverbs 11:25 (NIV)
- “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” — Matthew 10:39 (NIV)
Love as the Glue That Holds Everything Together
- “And now I will show you the most excellent way.” — 1 Corinthians 12:31 (NIV)
- “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” — Romans 12:10 (NIV)
- “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” — Psalm 133:1 (NIV)
- “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” — Romans 15:7 (NIV)
- “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had.” — Romans 15:5 (NIV)
- “Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” — Philippians 2:2 (NIV)
- “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.” — Philippians 2:3 (NIV)
- “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.” — Ecclesiastes 4:9 (NIV)
- “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” — 1 Corinthians 12:26 (NIV)
- “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” — Romans 12:15 (NIV)
- “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” — Proverbs 3:3 (NIV)
- “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” — Proverbs 17:17 (NIV)
- “Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
- “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” — Colossians 3:14 (NIV)
- “For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” — Galatians 5:14 (NLT)
The Love Chapter — Every Line of It, Not Just the Wedding Parts
- “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” — 1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV)
- “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” — 1 Corinthians 13:2 (NIV)
- “Love is patient.” — 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)
- “Love is kind.” — 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)
- “It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” — 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)
- “It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.” — 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)
- “It keeps no record of wrongs.” — 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)
- “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” — 1 Corinthians 13:6 (NIV)
- “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” — 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV)
- “Love never fails.” — 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)
- “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” — 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)
- “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; we see only a partial picture. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” — 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)
- “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.” — 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)
- “But the greatest of these is love.” — 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)
- “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” — 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT)
Love When It’s Difficult — the Verses Nobody Hangs on Their Wall
- “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” — Luke 6:35 (NIV)
- “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” — Luke 6:28 (NIV)
- “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” — Romans 12:20 (NIV)
- “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” — Romans 12:21 (NIV)
- “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” — Colossians 3:13 (NIV)
- “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.” — Proverbs 10:12 (NIV)
- “He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.” — Proverbs 17:9 (NKJV)
- “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” — Ephesians 4:31–32 (NIV)
- “For if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” — Luke 6:32 (ESV)
- “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” — 1 John 4:18 (NIV)
- “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” — Proverbs 15:1 (NIV)
- “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” — Matthew 5:44 (NIV)
- “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'” — Matthew 18:21–22 (NIV)
- “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.” — Romans 12:17 (NIV)
- “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” — Romans 12:18 (NIV)
- “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.” — 1 John 4:20 (NIV)
What Love Produces — the Life That Grows From It
- “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” — Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV)
- “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” — Romans 5:5 (NIV)
- “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” — 1 John 4:12 (NIV)
- “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” — John 13:35 (NIV)
- “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” — 1 John 3:14 (NIV)
- “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” — 1 Thessalonians 3:12 (NIV)
- “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.” — Philippians 1:9–10 (NIV)
- “Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” — Jude 1:21 (NIV)
- “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” — Ephesians 3:17–19 (NIV)
- “Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” — 1 John 4:11 (NIV)
- “Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.” — 1 Thessalonians 4:9 (NIV)
- “And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” — 1 John 4:21 (NIV)
- “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” — 1 Peter 1:22 (NIV)
- “For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” — 1 John 3:11 (NIV)
- “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” — 1 John 4:8 (NIV)
- “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” — 1 John 4:16 (ESV)
Love That Outlasts Everything — the Eternal, Unbreakable Kind
- “Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” — Song of Solomon 8:7 (NIV)
- “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.” — Song of Solomon 8:6 (NIV)
- “Love never fails.” — 1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)
- “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 8:38–39 (NIV)
- “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.'” — Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV)
- “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.” — Psalm 136:1 (NIV)
- “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” — Psalm 100:5 (NIV)
- “The Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.” — Psalm 32:10 (NIV)
- “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” — Psalm 36:7 (NIV)
- “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” — Lamentations 3:22–23 (NIV)
- “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” — Revelation 21:4 (NIV)
- “For God so loved the world.” — John 3:16 (NIV)
- “And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” — Ezekiel 37:27 (ESV)
- “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” — Psalm 23:6 (ESV)
- “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” — Revelation 22:21 (NIV)