76 Bible Verses about Priests Not Marrying

1 Corinthians 7:32-34 ESV / 59 helpful votes

I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

1 Corinthians 7:27 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 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. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ...

Matthew 19:12 ESV / 19 helpful votes

For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

1 Timothy 4:1-16 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. ...

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

1 Corinthians 7:32 ESV / 16 helpful votes

I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.

Leviticus 21:7 ESV / 15 helpful votes

They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

Isaiah 62:5 ESV / 14 helpful votes

For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Romans 7:4 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Matthew 19:29 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Matthew 19:11-12 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Leviticus 21:13 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And he shall take a wife in her virginity.

1 John 4:18-19 ESV / 8 helpful votes

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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 ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 7:7-8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.

Leviticus 21:14 ESV / 8 helpful votes

A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people,

1 Peter 4:8 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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.

Colossians 3:18-19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

1 Corinthians 16:14 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Let all that you do be done in love.

John 3:1-36 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ...

Matthew 22:30 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Matthew 19:9 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Ezekiel 44:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Proverbs 18:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

Leviticus 21:8 ESV / 7 helpful votes

You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy.

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Titus 3:7 ESV / 6 helpful votes

So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

1 Timothy 4:3 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Matthew 19:4-6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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.”

Proverbs 31:10 ESV / 6 helpful votes

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

1 John 4:8 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Titus 1:6 ESV / 5 helpful votes

If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

Ephesians 6:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),

Ephesians 5:33 ESV / 5 helpful votes

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

1 Corinthians 7:32-35 ESV / 5 helpful votes

I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

John 6:50 ESV / 5 helpful votes

This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

John 3:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Deuteronomy 24:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.

Leviticus 21:1-24 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. ...

Genesis 2:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

2 Timothy 2:3-4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

1 Timothy 4:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.

1 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

1 Corinthians 9:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Acts 8:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship

John 3:16-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Matthew 21:33 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Isaiah 54:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.

Revelation 22:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

1 Timothy 3:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.

Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ...

1 Corinthians 11:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.

1 Corinthians 7:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.

Acts 2:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

John 6:33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Mark 12:29-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.”

Mark 12:25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Hosea 2:19-20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

Leviticus 21:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

That he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.”

Revelation 21:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Revelation 19:1-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.” ...

1 John 4:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

Titus 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

1 Corinthians 5:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Matthew 19:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

Matthew 19:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?”

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