What Does the Bible Say About A Legal Marriage?

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.

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

Matthew 19:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 4 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?” ...

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Malachi 2:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ...

1 Corinthians 7:39 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ...

Romans 7:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.

John 2:1-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” ...

Matthew 19:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Matthew 19:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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’?

Matthew 19:4-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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.”

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 3 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.

Matthew 5:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Jude 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

1 Peter 2:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,

Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

1 Corinthians 9:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

1 Corinthians 7:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

1 Corinthians 7:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

(but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

1 Corinthians 6:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”

Romans 13:1-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ...

Romans 7:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ...

Matthew 19:1-30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 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’? ...

Ezekiel 16:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!

Ezekiel 16:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.

Proverbs 2:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;

Deuteronomy 24:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 22:13-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. ...

Numbers 4:1-49 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their clans and their fathers' houses, from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can come on duty, to do the work in the tent of meeting. This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things. When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it. ...

Numbers 2:1-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers' houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side. Those to camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah by their companies, the chief of the people of Judah being Nahshon the son of Amminadab, his company as listed being 74,600. Those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, the chief of the people of Issachar being Nethanel the son of Zuar, ...

Numbers 1:1-54 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company. And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. And these are the names of the men who shall assist you. From Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; ...

Leviticus 20:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Leviticus 18:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Exodus 21:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.

Exodus 20:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ...

Genesis 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Genesis 2:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, ...

Genesis 1:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

49 Bible Verses about A Legal Marriage

Luke 16:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 2:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:39 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 7:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 2:1-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:4-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jude 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 2:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 9:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:1-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 7:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:1-30 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 16:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 16:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 2:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 24:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 22:13-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Numbers 4:1-49 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Numbers 2:1-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Numbers 1:1-54 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 20:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 18:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 21:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 20:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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