12 Bible Verses About Love That Endures Hard Times (ESV), With the Setting of Each
12 ESV Bible verses on staying, fear and love that lasts, each read with its neighbouring verses so you know who speaks and why. For cards and hard seasons.
Updated
Most of what gets printed on cards about enduring love is a short quotation lifted out of a longer passage, and the longer passage often says something harder. The twelve verses below, all from the English Standard Version (ESV), are the ones people reach for when a marriage, a family or a friendship is under strain. Each was re-read against the verses around it, so you can see who is speaking, to whom, and what is going on when the line is said. They are grouped by the kind of hardship they answer: staying with someone, being afraid, and love that lasts. If you want a gentler, hope-centred set, see our Bible verses about love and hope.
Staying with someone: loyalty in the narrative books
Two of the oldest lines here are spoken as promises. One is a charge to a successor, the other a vow between two widows.
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV)
The next verse shows the setting: "Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, 'Be strong and courageous...'" So verse 6 is spoken to the whole people and verse 7 to Joshua, who is about to lead them into the land. The comfort in it is that someone goes with you; it does not promise that the road will be easy. That is why it suits a card for a person starting something frightening, such as a move, a diagnosis or a new job.
Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Ruth 1:16 (ESV)
Ruth speaks these words to her mother-in-law, Naomi. The verse before it is Ruth's answer to being told to go home: "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you." The vow continues in verse 17: "Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." Because the passage is so often read at weddings, it is worth knowing that it is a promise between two women who have each lost a husband, which says something about what loyalty is for. It can go on a card for a mother-in-law, a friend or a partner.
When fear is the problem: the Psalm and the prophet
These two are for the moment when nothing has gone wrong yet but everything feels as if it might.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1 (ESV)
The psalm goes straight on to the worst case: "Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling." The first verse is the one that fits on a card, but the next two are what give it weight, since the speaker has already pictured the disaster before saying he will not be afraid.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)
The verses before it address "you, Israel, my servant, Jacob": it is spoken to a people, not an individual. Many cards print only the first half, which is a fair cut if you end at a natural stop, but the full verse adds the three promises (strengthen, help, uphold) that make it concrete.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
This line is easy to quote cheerfully, but the speaker has just said, "Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me." Then comes "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope." The hope is something he chooses to recall in the middle of grief. Use it for someone who is exhausted rather than someone who is celebrating.
Hardship as part of the deal: the New Testament
The Gospel and the letters are less soothing than the cards that quote them. They say plainly that trouble is coming.
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 (ESV)
In John this is the end of a long conversation with the disciples. Just before it, Jesus tells them, "the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me." The peace is offered in the same breath as the warning.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
Romans 5:3-4 (ESV)
Paul's chain has four links and ends in hope, and verse 5 adds "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." Be careful with it on a card for someone in pain: "we rejoice in our sufferings" can sound like an instruction to be cheerful. It reads better as something you say about yourself after the fact than as advice to another person.
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.
Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)
This is the answer to a question asked three verses earlier: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?" Verse 37 replies, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Shortened versions often stop at "will be able to separate us from the love of God", which drops the list that gives it force.
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)
Paul writes that he was given "a thorn... in the flesh" and "Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me." The line is the answer he received, and it is a refusal: the thorn stays. He then concludes, "For when I am weak, then I am strong." It is an honest verse for someone who has asked for relief and not received it.
Love that lasts: the three short ones
These are the lines most often used on anniversary and wedding cards. Their context is less romantic than it looks, and that is useful to know before you choose.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV)
It sits in the middle of Paul's list that begins "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude" and ends "Love never ends." Read in full, the passage is a list of things love refuses to do, which makes it a better test for your own behaviour than a compliment for someone else.
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 (ESV)
The surrounding verses begin "The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers" and go on in verse 9, "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling." So the practical meaning is close to home: keep forgiving, and keep the house open. It fits a couple after a hard year.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
1 John 4:18 (ESV)
The sentence continues, "For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." and verse 19 gives the reason: "We love because he first loved us." Cards usually drop the second half, which changes the meaning from a general comfort to a statement about fear and punishment. If you use only the first sentence, end it there, as above.
Which verse for which situation
| Situation | Verse | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Someone starting something frightening | Deuteronomy 31:6 | Spoken to people about to cross into the unknown; the promise is company |
| A partner, friend or in-law you are standing by | Ruth 1:16 | A vow of loyalty with no guarantee of an easy life |
| Someone who is afraid of what might happen | Psalm 46:1 or Isaiah 41:10 | Both name the fear before answering it |
| Someone worn out by grief | Lamentations 3:22-23 | Hope written in the middle of lament |
| A couple after a hard year | 1 Peter 4:8 or 1 Corinthians 13:7 | About forgiving and bearing, not about feelings |
| Someone who prayed and did not get relief | 2 Corinthians 12:9 | Admits the answer was no |
To write a few words of your own beside a verse, our guide on how to write a love letter has a plain method, and for verses about a father's care see Bible verses about a father's blessing.
Questions readers ask
Which translation is this page using?
The English Standard Version (ESV). Each verse was compared with the ESV text of the surrounding passage. Other translations word several of these lines differently, so if you quote from another one, copy the wording from that edition.
Does 1 Corinthians 13:7 belong on a wedding card?
It is commonly used for weddings, but the chapter is part of Paul's letter to the Corinthian church and describes what love does and does not do. Quoting verse 7 together with verse 4 ("Love is patient and kind") keeps the meaning intact.
Can I shorten a verse for a card?
Yes, if you end at a natural stop and do not change a word. The two to be most careful with are Romans 8:38-39 and 1 John 4:18, where the common short forms leave out the part that explains them.
