Bible Verses for a Struggling Marriage

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

The image is a three-strand rope. Two strands wear each other thin. A third strand, woven in, holds the whole thing together. God is that third strand. If your marriage has been trying to hold together on only two strands lately, the invitation is to weave Him back in.

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Read this slowly, applying each line to your marriage. Suffereth long. Is kind. Seeketh not her own. These are all choices, not feelings. The love that survives a hard season is the love that chooses, again, the verbs in this passage, even when the feelings are not cooperating.

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

Colossians 3:13

Paul pairs forbearing with forgiving because marriage needs both. Forbearing is daily patience with small irritations. Forgiving is the heavier work of releasing the thing that actually hurt you. Most struggling marriages need the daily forbearing again before they need a big forgiveness moment.

“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.”

Ephesians 4:26-27

Paul gives you a boundary you can start practicing tonight. Do not go to sleep still mad. Some of the weight in your marriage is accumulated, night after night, of carrying wrath into bedtime. Undo one night. Say what needs to be said. The enemy makes a home in unresolved anger.

“And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

1 Peter 4:8

Peter says love covers. Not excuses, not ignores. Covers. A marriage that has been around a while has accumulated a multitude of small wounds. Love is what lays over them, letting most of them heal without constant reopening. Love covers what it does not need to make a case about.

“Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Matthew 19:6

Jesus is quoting Genesis. God joined. That means God has an interest in holding together what He put together. The covenant is not held only by the two of you. He has skin in the game. On nights your strength for this feels thin, His is not.