Love

“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.

Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves.

So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved.

Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,

but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day.

He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

For if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—

You are to follow the LORD your God and fear Him. Keep His commandments and listen to His voice; serve Him and hold fast to Him.

But if your servant says to you, ‘I do not want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your household and is well off with you,

and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three.

If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,

when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.

You are not to seek peace or prosperity from them as long as you live.

The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God.

So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.

Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.” “Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”

He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb.

When David came to Saul and entered his service, Saul loved him very much, and David became his armor-bearer.

After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he was leading them out to battle and back.

Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

Then Saul ordered his servants, “Speak to David privately and tell him, ‘Behold, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become his son-in-law.’”

When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David,

And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, were not divided in death. They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.

I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother. You were delightful to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.

Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved the child

After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.

and he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”

Now therefore get up! Go out and speak comfort to your servants, for I swear by the LORD that if you do not go out, not a man will remain with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the adversity that has befallen you from your youth until now!”

And Solomon loved the LORD and walked in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,

Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.

I will pay your servants, the woodcutters, 20,000 cors of ground wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”

Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on His throne to be king for the LORD your God. Because your God loved Israel enough to establish them forever, He has made you king over them to carry out justice and righteousness.”

Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to confront him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you.

Our God, did You not drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend?

Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.

Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments,

Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.

And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh,

His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.”

All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.

Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself; the LORD hears when I call to Him.

For surely You, O LORD, bless the righteous; You surround them with the shield of Your favor.

The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.

For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.

O LORD, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.

Be strong and courageous, all you who hope in the LORD.

The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His loving devotion.

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.

For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.

Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.

But I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my helper and deliverer; O my God, do not delay.

All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad.

God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD with the sound of the horn.

Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying,

But I am poor and needy; hurry to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.

But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.

The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Hate evil, O you who love the LORD! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

The mighty King loves justice. You have established equity; You have exercised justice and righteousness in Jacob.

In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy.

I delight in Your commandments because I love them.

I lift up my hands to Your commandments, which I love, and I meditate on Your statutes.

Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation.

The double-minded I despise, but Your law I love.

All the wicked on earth You discard like dross; therefore I love Your testimonies.

Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold, even the purest gold.

Turn to me and show me mercy, as You do to those who love Your name.

Your promise is completely pure; therefore Your servant loves it.

Consider how I love Your precepts, O LORD; give me life according to Your loving devotion.

I hate and abhor falsehood, but Your law I love.

Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your law; nothing can make them stumble.

I obey Your testimonies and love them greatly.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper.

The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.

the LORD opens the eyes of the blind, the LORD lifts those who are weighed down, the LORD loves the righteous.

“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

Do not forsake wisdom, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will guard you.

A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.

I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me.

bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full.

But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

The poor man is hated even by his neighbor, but many are those who love the rich.

The LORD detests the way of the wicked, but He loves those who pursue righteousness.

A mocker does not love to be reproved, nor will he consult the wise.

Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.

Righteous lips are a king’s delight, and he who speaks honestly is beloved.

Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends.

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

He who loves transgression loves strife; he who builds his gate high invites destruction.

Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

He who acquires wisdom loves himself; one who safeguards understanding will find success.

Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food.

He who loves pleasure will become poor; the one who loves wine and oil will never be rich.

He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend.

Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed.

The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

The produce of the earth is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.

The fragrance of your perfume is pleasing; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens adore you.

Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.

Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?

He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.

Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.

I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him.

I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?”

I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

He has made its posts of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric. Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

Your stature is like a palm tree; your breasts are clusters of fruit.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.

Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—

Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.

Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant—

Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.

Behind the door and doorpost you have set up your memorial. Forsaking Me, you uncovered your bed; you climbed up and opened it wide. And you have made a pact with those whose bed you have loved; you have gazed upon their nakedness.

For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity; in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.

In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

You should have kept your feet from going bare and your throat from being thirsty. But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’

How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

They will be exposed to the sun and moon, and to all the host of heaven which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up or buried, but will become like dung lying on the ground.

This is what the LORD says about this people: “Truly they love to wander; they have not restrained their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins.”

For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. And I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon and put them to the sword.

And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon, and there you will die and be buried—you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied these lies.’”

Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.

The wind will drive away all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.

All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer seek you, for I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins.

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

I called out to my lovers, but they have betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.

Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.

This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,

therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.

Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—

And I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, “O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of loving devotion to those who love Him and keep His commandments,

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’

Therefore I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were given to cover her nakedness.

I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers. So I will make them into a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour them.

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly.

There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.”

When their liquor is gone, they turn to prostitution; their rulers dearly love disgrace.

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to Shame; so they became as detestable as the thing they loved.

All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them from My house for the wickedness of their deeds. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground.

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.

I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.

And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”

I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings. For that is what you children of Israel love to do,” declares the Lord GOD.

Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”

do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely, for I hate all these things,” declares the LORD.

“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.”

If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your chest?’ he will answer, ‘These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends.’

“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved,

Judah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same?

No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “There is one thing you lack: Go, sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

for he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”

When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Which one, then, will love him more?”

Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

He answered, “‘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 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces.

No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.

The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands.

but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you.

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.

The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end.

One of His disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at His side.

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.

You heard Me say, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

But I do exactly what the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Get up! Let us go on from here.

As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love.

If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

This is My command to you: Love one another.

I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.

Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

And I have made Your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love You have for Me may be in them, and I in them.”

When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.”

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it) and jumped into the sea.

When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.”

Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. He was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper to ask, “Lord, who is going to betray You?”

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

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.

So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”

Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.

Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.

Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and with a gentle spirit?

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

But the one who loves God is known by God.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

Do everything in love.

My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.

Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.

in purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;

But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we inspired in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

I am not giving a command, but I am testing the sincerity of your love through the earnestness of others.

In full view of the churches, then, show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our boasting about you.

Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

Finally, brothers, rejoice! Aim for perfect harmony, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

All the saints send you greetings.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.

For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love

to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,

of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.

From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.

and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

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

In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

The latter do so in love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,

then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose.

because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints—

and who also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,

that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers who are beloved by God, we know that He has chosen you,

But just now, Timothy has returned from his visit with the good news about your faith, your love, and the fond memories you have preserved, longing to see us just as we long to see you.

And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows,

Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of our hope of salvation.

In love, hold them in highest regard because of their work. Live in peace with one another.

We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.

and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.

And the grace of our Lord overflowed to me, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching you have heard from me, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

You, however, have observed my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my perseverance,

From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing.

because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

Older men are to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, and sound in faith, love, and perseverance.

because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.

I take great joy and encouragement in your love, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

I prefer to appeal on the basis of love. For I, Paul, am now aged, and a prisoner of Christ Jesus as well.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You above Your companions with the oil of joy.”

For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.

And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.

For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.

Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.

Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:

Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.

And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.

And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.

We love because He first loved us.

If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.

By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

The elder, To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I alone, but also all who know the truth—

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, will be with us in truth and love.

And now I urge you, dear lady—not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.

The elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth:

They have testified to the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,

But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.

I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latest deeds are greater than your first.

As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.

And they marched across the broad expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.