What Does the Bible Say About Multiple Wives?

Deuteronomy 17:17 ESV / 34 helpful votes

And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 33 helpful votes

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 28 helpful votes

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

1 Timothy 3:12 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.

1 Kings 11:3 ESV / 13 helpful votes

He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

Titus 1:6 ESV / 12 helpful votes

If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 12 helpful votes

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

Matthew 19:3-20 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ...

Genesis 4:19 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

Ephesians 5:33 ESV / 10 helpful votes

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ...

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

1 Peter 3:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,

Luke 16:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 3:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

Bible Verses about Multiple Wives