Valentine’s Day, a day synonymous with hearts, flowers, and expressions of affection, offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the profound and multifaceted nature of love. While modern traditions have shaped our celebrations, the concept of love is a central theme woven throughout the Bible. From the unconditional and sacrificial love of God to the intimate bonds of marriage and the call to love our neighbors, Scripture provides a rich tapestry of wisdom on this powerful emotion. This collection of 99 Bible verses invites you to explore the depth and breadth of love, not just on Valentine’s Day, but every day.
God’s Unconditional Love: The Foundation
The Bible presents a radical and transformative understanding of love, rooted in the very character of God. This divine love, often described by the Greek word agape, is not based on feelings or circumstances but is a selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional commitment. It is a love that pursues, redeems, and sustains.
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
1 John 4:8 – “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Romans 5:8 – “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
| Verse | Key Message |
| 1 John 4:19 | We love because he first loved us. |
| Romans 8:38-39 | For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
| Jeremiah 31:3 | I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. |
| Zephaniah 3:17 | The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. |
| Psalm 36:7 | How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. |
| Isaiah 43:4 | Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. |
| Ephesians 2:4-5 | But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. |
| Psalm 31:16 | Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love! |
| Psalm 33:4-5 | For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD. |
| Psalm 40:11 | As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! |
| Psalm 42:8 | By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. |
| Psalm 63:3-4 | Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. |
| Psalm 94:18 | When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. |
| Psalm 103:8 | The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. |
| Psalm 115:1 | Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! |
| Isaiah 54:10 | ‘For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you. |
| Lamentations 3:22-23 | The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. |
| Romans 5:5 | and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. |
| 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 | For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. |
| Galatians 2:20 | I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. |
| Ephesians 3:17-19 | so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. |
The Anatomy of Love: 1 Corinthians 13
Perhaps the most famous passage on love in the Bible is found in 1 Corinthians 13. This chapter provides a beautiful and challenging description of what love looks like in action. It moves beyond sentimentality to portray love as a series of conscious choices and commitments.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 – “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 – “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 16:14 – “Let all that you do be done in love.”
Love in Action: A Command to Love Others
The love we receive from God is not meant to be kept to ourselves. Scripture repeatedly commands believers to extend this same love to one another. This is not merely a suggestion but a core component of the Christian faith, a marker of true discipleship.
| Verse | Key Message |
| John 13:34-35 | A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. |
| John 15:12-13 | This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. |
| 1 John 3:16-18 | By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. |
| 1 John 4:7-12 | Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God… Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. |
| Romans 12:9-10 | Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. |
| 1 Peter 4:8 | Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. |
| Galatians 5:13-14 | For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” |
| Ephesians 4:2-3 | with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. |
| Colossians 3:14 | And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. |
| Leviticus 19:18 | You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. |
| Matthew 5:44 | But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. |
| Matthew 19:19 | Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. |
| Luke 6:35 | But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. |
| Luke 10:27 | And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ |
| Romans 13:8 | Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. |
| Romans 13:10 | Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. |
| 1 Corinthians 10:24 | Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. |
| Galatians 5:6 | For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. |
| Galatians 5:22-23 | But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. |
| Ephesians 4:15 | Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. |
| Philippians 2:3 | Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. |
| 1 Thessalonians 3:12 | and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you. |
| 1 Thessalonians 4:9 | Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. |
| 1 Peter 1:22 | Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. |
| 1 Peter 3:8-9 | Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. |
| 2 Peter 1:5-7 | For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. |
| 1 John 2:9-10 | Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. |
| 1 John 4:20-21 | If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. |
| Jude 1:21 | keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. |
Romantic Love and the Covenant of Marriage
The Bible also celebrates romantic love within the context of marriage. The Song of Solomon, for example, is a beautiful and poetic exploration of the passion and intimacy between a husband and wife. Marriage is presented as a sacred covenant, a reflection of Christ’s love for the church.
Song of Solomon 8:6-7 – “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.”
| Verse | Key Message |
| Song of Solomon 2:16 | My beloved is mine, and I am his. |
| Song of Solomon 4:9-10 | You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice! |
| Ephesians 5:25 | Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. |
| Genesis 2:24 | Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. |
| Proverbs 31:10 | An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. |
| Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 | Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. |
| Matthew 19:4-6 | He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” |
| 1 Corinthians 7:3-4 | The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. |
| Proverbs 3:11-12 | My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. |
| Proverbs 8:17 | I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. |
| Proverbs 17:9 | Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. |
| Proverbs 18:22 | He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD. |
| Song of Solomon 1:2 | Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine. |
| Ephesians 5:28-33 | In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. |
| Colossians 3:18-19 | Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. |
| 1 Peter 3:7 | Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. |
| Hebrews 13:4 | Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. |
Our Response: Loving God
Ultimately, our love for others flows from our love for God. This is the first and greatest commandment, the wellspring from which all other expressions of love find their source and strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5 – “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Matthew 22:37-38 – “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.'”
| Verse | Key Message |
| Mark 12:30-31 | And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. |
| 1 John 5:3 | For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. |
| John 14:15 | If you love me, you will keep my commandments. |
| John 14:21 | Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. |
| John 15:10 | If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. |
| 1 Corinthians 2:9 | But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” |
A Final Reflection
As you celebrate Valentine’s Day, may these verses deepen your understanding and appreciation of love in all its forms. May you know the depth of God’s love for you, may you practice the patience and kindness of 1 Corinthians 13, and may you extend love to those around you, today and always. For more bible verses content, please check FaithTime Bible Verses.
If these 99 Bible verses have helped you see God’s love more clearly this Valentine’s Day, you can keep nurturing that love-centered perspective by building small, daily habits that draw your heart back to Scripture and prayer. Using a simple devotional app like FaithTime can help you reflect on God’s love story with you—not only on special days, but all year long. To explore love more deeply through God’s Word, you can browse topical Bible verses on themes like relationships, forgiveness, and commitment, and draw from guided prayer collections when you want words to express love, gratitude, or intercession for someone special. You might also appreciate focused resources such as verses about dating and a heartfelt prayer for your love, which can help you invite God into your romantic relationships and let His love shape the way you speak, serve, and stay committed to the people He has placed in your life.
