# tasteful wedding scripture? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671 "2003-05-16T13:31:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kismet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc8723/32.png) [@kismet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kismet)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/1 "2003-05-16T13:31:27Z")
I posted a similar thread over at the PP, but with little response. Here’s the deal. I’m agnostic, getting married in a Lutheran church. I need to pick two scripture readings, or the officiant will pick them for me. So far, I’ve read: Genesis 2:18-24 Colossians 3:12-17 First Corinthians 13 Ephesians 5:20-33 First Corinthians has been done to death, but it’s the only one that I even remotely like. The others are about wives submitting to their husbands, God making Eve out of a rib bone blah blah blah. I’m starting to work on Song of Solomon, hopefully I’ll find something there. I just want to find some nice scripture about love, and I haven’t really had any luck yet. Help? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/2 "2003-05-16T13:36:21Z")
Try the end of Proverbs (from “A woman of valor…” until the end of the book). It’s a traditional ode to a wife. True, it may be a bit one-sided (I’m not aware of any similar reading for a groom). It is traditionaly sung in Jewish homes at the Sabbath evening meal. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![kismet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc8723/32.png) [@kismet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kismet)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/3 "2003-05-16T13:49:47Z")
I like that one, **zev**. I might have to cut it down a bit, but it works. Thank you! I’m also thinking about Song of Solomon 2:16, 8:6-7. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/4 "2003-05-16T13:50:42Z")
At our wedding, a paraphrase of 1 Cor. 13 was read. Love… is patient and kind; love is not jealous or conceited, or proud or provoked; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is pleased with the truth. Love never gives up; it’s faith, hope, and patience never fail. Nice - short - to the point. Maybe that could do?? ---
**Author:** ![Howard\_Juneau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bb73d2/32.png) [@Howard\_Juneau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Howard_Juneau)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/5 "2003-05-16T14:07:08Z")
How about 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 the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken..." ``` [The “third” in the threefold cord generally taken to be a reference to God’s presence in your marriage…] Also, John chapter 2 is the account of Jesus at the wedding in Cana (famous for the “water-into-wine” miracle). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/6 "2003-05-16T14:13:06Z")
Most Protestant denominations don’t recognize the Book of Tobit as valid Scripture… I suspect the Lutherans don’t either. But if they’re open to Aprocryphal readings, there’s nice wedding prayers in there (Catholic weddings use it regularly). ---
**Author:** ![PRNYouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PRNYouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PRNYouth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/7 "2003-05-16T14:16:52Z")
Consider Song of Solomon 4:9 (quoted here from the version of the Bible known as The Message) > [@](#): > > You’ve captured my heart, dear friend. > You looked at me, and I fell in love. > One look my way and I was hopelessly in love! Or try Song of Solomon 8:6-7, also from The Message. > [@](#): > > Hang my locket around your neck, > wear my ring on your finger. > Love is invincible facing danger and death. > Passion laughs at the terrors of hell. > The fire of love stops at nothing– > it sweeps everything before it. > Flood waters can’t drown love, > torrents of rain can’t put it out. > Love can’t be bought, love can’t be sold– > it’s not to be found in the marketplace. Just a couple that I like. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kismet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc8723/32.png) [@kismet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kismet)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/8 "2003-05-16T14:20:37Z")
Thanks, **Howard Juneau** and **DeVena**. Those are great suggestions too. The First Corinthians passage is one of my favorites, but my fiance feels it’s a bit overused at weddings. I knew I could count on SDMB to help me out. _preview_ **astorian** you nearly snuck in on me! I’m pretty sure this guy won’t allow non-Lutheran readings, but it never hurts to check it out. Thanks. _preview again_ Dammit, **PRNYouth**! You nearly got in there too! I have those verses as one of my choices, but your version sounds purtier. Where can I find that translation? ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/9 "2003-05-16T14:39:58Z")
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/10 "2003-05-16T14:49:50Z")
I have a friend who is a Lutheran pastor. Eccl. 4:9-12 and Songs 8:6-7 are two of her favorite passages; she used them at a friend’s wedding and then again at her own. She also used Gen. 2:18-24, and probably the selection from 1st Cor. I recall the selection from Genesis as being about the creation of the institution of marriage. (Side note: Get the words correct when reading that section. We had had an issue where the reader accidentially transposed “parents” and “wife.”) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/11 "2003-05-16T14:51:07Z")
It’s not a wedding piece, or about the love between a man and a woman, but Ruth’s vow to Naomi is one of the most beautiful pieces of devotion and committment in the bible. Ruth 1:16-17 > [@](#): > > And Ruth said, "Don’t ask me to leave you, for where you go, I will go, and whereyou live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die and be buried. May God do that to me if anything other than death makes me leave you. ---
**Author:** ![PRNYouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PRNYouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PRNYouth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/12 "2003-05-16T15:05:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kismet \* > \*\*I have those verses as one of my choices, but your version sounds purtier. Where can I find that translation? \*\* If you want an actual print version of it, it’s available at many mainstream bookstores and most Christian bookstores. For all my online Bible-reading needs, though (and I’m a minister, so I have many), I use Bible Gateway. It provides many different translations, including The Message, and several foreign language versions. The Message is abbreviated “msg” in their dropdown menus. I like it especially because when reading a verse, you can click an option that says “see this verse in [any other translation]”. You might want to check with your presiding minister to see if they’ll allow a Message paraphrase to be used. It’s not accepted as valid in some more traditional areas, becase it is technically a paraphrase rather than a straight translation. Enjoy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/13 "2003-05-16T15:09:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KidCharlemagne \* > \*\*“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” > > 😛 \*\* \ Lutherans will get that. ---
**Author:** ![kismet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc8723/32.png) [@kismet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kismet)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tasteful-wedding-scripture/175671/14 "2003-05-16T15:54:16Z")
**KidCharlemagne** , our officiant actually suggested Psalm 23 as a reading. Buh? Anyways, thanks again, ya’ll.