The best Bible verses for love (ESV) include passages about God's love, strength, and guidance. This page features 15+ carefully curated Scripture passages for love (ESV), each selected for its relevance and depth. Read, save, and share the perfect verse for your situation.
"We love because he first loved us."1 John 4:19
"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”"John 14:21
"Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."John 14:23
"“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name."Psalms 91:14
"And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil."John 3:19
"You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I."John 14:28
"Of Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”"Deuteronomy 33:12
"for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God."John 16:27
"Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”"Luke 7:47
Translations differ in what they optimise for. Some follow the original wording closely at the cost of a natural English sentence; others read smoothly and make interpretive choices to get there. Neither is wrong, but they produce noticeably different verses.
Each of the 15 verses below is shown in the translation you asked for, and every verse links to a page comparing all six side by side — which is usually the fastest way to see where the translators disagreed.
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The most-cited Bible verses for love (ESV) are 1 John 4:19, Lamentations 3:22, John 14:21. This page collects 15 of them, each with its full passage, context and the text in six translations.
Read the verse in its surrounding passage before you use it — a verse that fits in isolation sometimes says something different in context. Compare two translations where the wording is unclear, and pick for the person who will read it rather than for the theme.
Scripture returns to love (ESV) across both testaments rather than settling it in one passage, which is why the verses on this page do not all say the same thing. Read together they give a fuller answer than any single verse does.
There is no single best translation. The NIV and NLT read most naturally and communicate well to someone outside the church; the ESV and NASB stay closer to the original wording; the KJV carries the phrasing most people recognise. Every verse here links to a page showing all six side by side.
More than any page can list. This one carries the 15 that are most often turned to for love (ESV), chosen so each stands on its own and links through to the full chapter it belongs to.