Dating at this stage of life feels completely different from your twenties. You’re carrying the wisdom of experience, the weight of past relationships, and perhaps the responsibilities of children, aging parents, or established careers. The butterflies still flutter, but they’re accompanied by practical questions about blended families, financial compatibility, and whether you’re too set in your ways to merge your life with someone else’s.
You might be re-entering the dating world after divorce or the death of a spouse, feeling rusty and uncertain about modern dating culture. Perhaps you never married and wonder if God still has romance in store for you, or if you’ve missed your window. The dating apps feel foreign, the rules have changed, and you’re not sure how to navigate physical intimacy, emotional vulnerability, and spiritual compatibility when you’re no longer young and naive.
But God’s plan for love and companionship doesn’t have an expiration date. The desire for connection and partnership is a gift from Him that remains valid at every season of life. These verses offer wisdom for dating with maturity, discernment, and faith, reminding you that it’s never too late for love when it’s guided by His principles and timing.
Bible Verses for Dating in Your 40s and 50s
1. Ecclesiastes 3:1 – A Time for Everything
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
New International Version (NIV)
2. Proverbs 31:30 – Charm Is Deceptive and Beauty Is Fleeting
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
English Standard Version (ESV)
3. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – Love Is Patient and Kind
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
New King James Version (NKJV)
4. Psalm 37:4 – Take Delight in the Lord
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
New Living Translation (NLT)
5. 2 Corinthians 6:14 – Do Not Be Yoked Together with Unbelievers
Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark?
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
6. Proverbs 27:19 – As Water Reflects the Face
As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
7. Genesis 2:18 – It Is Not Good for Man to Be Alone
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
King James Version (KJV)
8. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 – God’s Will Is Your Sanctification
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor.
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
9. Song of Solomon 8:6-7 – Love Is as Strong as Death
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.
The Message (MSG)
10. Proverbs 18:22 – He Who Finds a Wife Finds What Is Good
He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.
Amplified Bible (AMP)
11. Ruth 3:11 – A Woman of Noble Character
Now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you everything you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.
New English Translation (NET)
12. 1 Peter 3:3-4 – Your Beauty Should Not Come from Outward Adornment
Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold ornaments or fine clothes. Instead, it should consist of what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
13. Proverbs 19:14 – A Prudent Wife Is from the Lord
You may inherit houses and money from your parents, but only the Lord can give you a sensible wife.
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
14. 1 John 4:7 – Let Us Love One Another
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God.
Good News Translation (GNT)
15. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 – Two Are Better Than One
Two people are better than one, because they get more done by working together. If one falls down, the other can help him up. But it is bad for the person who is alone and falls, because no one is there to help. If two lie down together, they will be warm, but a person alone will not be warm. An enemy might defeat one person, but two people together can defend themselves; a rope that is woven of three strings is hard to break.
New Century Version (NCV)
16. 1 Timothy 5:2 – Treat Younger Women as Sisters
older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
International Standard Version (ISV)
17. Philippians 4:19 – God Will Meet All Your Needs
But my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Tree of Life Version (TLV)
18. James 1:17 – Every Good and Perfect Gift
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Lexham English Bible (LEB)
19. Psalm 84:11 – No Good Thing Will He Withhold
For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly.
World English Bible (WEB)
20. 1 Corinthians 7:7-8 – It Is Good for Them to Stay Unmarried
Yet I would that all men were even as I myself. But each man hath his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that. But I say to the unmarried and to widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
American Standard Version (ASV)
21. Matthew 6:33 – Seek First His Kingdom
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
22. Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
New American Bible (NAB)
23. Isaiah 54:5 – Your Maker Is Your Husband
For thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name: and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the God of the whole earth.
Douay-Rheims Bible (DRB)
24. Psalm 145:9 – The Lord Is Good to All
The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
English Revised Version (ERV)
25. Isaiah 62:5 – As a Young Man Marries a Maiden
For a young man doth marry a virgin, Thy Builders do marry thee, And the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, Rejoice over thee doth thy God.
Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)
26. 1 Corinthians 7:39 – A Wife Is Bound to Her Husband
A wife is bound for so long time as her husband lives; but if the husband be fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord.
Darby Translation (DARBY)
27. Hebrews 13:4 – Marriage Should Be Honored by All
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage-bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
Weymouth New Testament (WNT)
28. Genesis 24:14 – Show Kindness to My Master
And be it that the damysel to whom Y schal seie, Bowe doun thi watir pot that Y drynke, and sche schal answere, Drynke thou, but also Y schal yyue drynke to thi camels, thilke it is which thou hast maad redi to thi seruaunt Ysaac; and bi this Y schal vndirstonde that thou hast do merci with my lord Abraham.
Wycliffe Bible (WYC)
29. 1 Peter 4:8 – Above All, Love Each Other Deeply
But before all thinges haue feruent loue among your selues: for loue shall couer the multitude of sinnes.
Geneva Bible (GNV)
30. Colossians 3:14 – Put on Love
And aboue all these thynges, put on loue, which is the bonde of perfectnesse.
Bishop’s Bible
31. 1 Corinthians 16:14 – Do Everything in Love
Let all youre thinges be done in love.
Tyndale Bible
32. Jeremiah 29:11 – Plans to Prosper You
For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
The Living Bible (TLB)
33. Isaiah 43:19 – See, I Am Doing a New Thing
Can’t you see that I’m doing a brand-new thing? It’s bursting out! Don’t you see there it is! I’m making a road through the desert, streams in the badlands.
The Passion Translation (TPT)
34. Romans 8:28 – God Works for the Good
We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan.
The Voice Bible (VOICE)
35. Psalm 113:9 – He Gives the Childless Woman a Family
He helps a woman who can’t have children to live in her family. He makes her a happy mother. Praise the Lord.
New International Reader’s Version (NIrV)
Our Thoughts on What the Bible Says About Dating in Your 40s and 50s
Scripture affirms that the desire for companionship and love doesn’t diminish with age. The Bible presents marriage and partnership as good gifts from God that can occur at any season of life. Ruth found love with Boaz later in life, and biblical wisdom literature consistently treats the search for a life partner as a worthy pursuit that deserves thoughtful consideration and divine guidance.
What strikes me most about biblical dating principles is how they emphasize character over external qualities. While physical attraction matters, Scripture consistently points to qualities like faithfulness, kindness, wisdom, and spiritual maturity as the foundation for lasting relationships. This perspective becomes especially relevant in midlife dating, where life experience has taught us the importance of compatibility in values, goals, and faith.
The Bible also acknowledges that some people are called to singleness, and there’s no shame in either path. Whether God calls you to marriage or singleness in this season, the key is seeking His will and trusting His timing. Midlife dating can actually offer advantages: greater self-awareness, clearer priorities, and the wisdom to recognize genuine compatibility. The rush of youth is replaced by the patience of experience, often leading to deeper, more stable relationships built on solid foundations rather than just emotions.
Say This Prayer
Heavenly Father, dating at this stage of life feels both exciting and intimidating. I carry the wisdom of experience but also the wounds of past relationships. Sometimes I wonder if I’m too old for butterflies and romance, or if I’ve become too set in my ways to truly share my life with someone new.
Help me approach dating with both openness and wisdom. Give me discernment to recognize genuine character and compatibility, not just surface attraction or the loneliness that makes any company seem appealing. Help me be patient with Your timing and trust that You know what’s best for me, whether that’s a life partner or continued singleness.
Guard my heart from settling for less than Your best while also helping me maintain realistic expectations. Show me how to be vulnerable without being naive, and how to protect my heart without closing it off completely. If You have someone special planned for me, prepare both of us for that relationship.
Help me remember that my worth isn’t determined by my relationship status. Whether You call me to marriage or singleness in this season, help me live fully and purposefully. Use this time of searching to draw me closer to You and to become the person You’ve created me to be.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Evang. Anabelle Thompson is the founder of Believers Refuge, a Scripture-based resource that helps Christians to find biblical guidance for life’s challenges.
With over 15 years of ministry experience and a decade of dedicated Bible study, she creates content that connects believers with relevant Scripture for their daily struggles.
Her work has reached over 76,000 monthly readers (which is projected to reach 100,000 readers by the end of 2025) seeking practical faith applications, biblical encouragement, and spiritual guidance rooted in God’s Word.
She writes from personal experience, having walked through seasons of waiting, breakthrough, and spiritual growth that inform her teaching.
Evang. Thompson brings 12 years of active ministry and evangelism experience, along with over 10 years of systematic Bible study and theological research.
As a former small group leader and Sunday school teacher, she has published over 200 biblical resources and devotional studies.
She specializes in applying Scripture to everyday life challenges and regularly studies the original Hebrew and Greek texts for a deeper biblical understanding.