100 Bible Verses about Multiple Wives

Exodus 21:10 ESV / 280 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 17:17 ESV / 270 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 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 256 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 3:2 ESV / 242 helpful votes

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

1 Kings 11:3 ESV / 214 helpful votes

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

Isaiah 4:1 ESV / 190 helpful votes

And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”

Luke 16:18 ESV / 172 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 3:12 ESV / 154 helpful votes

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

Deuteronomy 21:15-17 ESV / 147 helpful votes

“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 130 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.

Genesis 4:19 ESV / 121 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 18:22 ESV / 114 helpful votes

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

2 Samuel 12:8 ESV / 111 helpful votes

And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 101 helpful votes

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

Matthew 19:3-20 ESV / 97 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?” ...

1 Peter 3:1 ESV / 89 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,

Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 88 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:33 ESV / 82 helpful votes

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

Titus 1:6 ESV / 78 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.

Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 75 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?” ...

1 Samuel 1:2 ESV / 55 helpful votes

He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Luke 20:27-40 ESV / 47 helpful votes

There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. ...

Genesis 35:23-26 ESV / 42 helpful votes

The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 31 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 6:16 ESV / 28 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.”

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 25 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.

Philippians 4:6 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Matthew 19:8 ESV / 23 helpful votes

He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

Proverbs 19:14 ESV / 23 helpful votes

House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

2 Samuel 5:13 ESV / 21 helpful votes

And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.

Proverbs 12:4 ESV / 20 helpful votes

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 20 helpful votes

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Judges 8:30 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.

Acts 2:22 ESV / 18 helpful votes

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—

2 Chronicles 13:21 ESV / 18 helpful votes

But Abijah grew mighty. And he took fourteen wives and had twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

Titus 2:4-5 ESV / 17 helpful votes

And so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Luke 1:37 ESV / 17 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Proverbs 31:10 ESV / 17 helpful votes

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

Proverbs 14:1 ESV / 17 helpful votes

The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.

Deuteronomy 21:15 ESV / 17 helpful votes

“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,

Genesis 2:18 ESV / 17 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.”

Malachi 2:15 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

2 Chronicles 11:21 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines (he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters).

Matthew 19:9 ESV / 15 helpful votes

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

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 14 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Isaiah 51:12 ESV / 14 helpful votes

“I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,

1 Timothy 3:1-16 ESV / 13 helpful votes

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? ...

Colossians 3:19 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Ezekiel 23:1-49 ESV / 13 helpful votes

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. They played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms handled. Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. “Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors ...

Genesis 1:28 ESV / 13 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.”

Ephesians 5:21-24 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 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.

Romans 13:1-7 ESV / 12 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. ...

Proverbs 31:1-31 ESV / 12 helpful votes

The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. ...

Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV / 11 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, ...

Isaiah 3:1-26 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable. ...

Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Genesis 16:1-16 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” ...

Proverbs 30:20 ESV / 10 helpful votes

This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.”

Proverbs 5:18 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,

2 Chronicles 24:2-3 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

2 Samuel 3:2-5 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel; and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

Joshua 24:15 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Genesis 2:1-25 ESV / 10 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, ...

Ephesians 5:28 ESV / 9 helpful votes

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Ephesians 5:25-33 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ...

Acts 5:29 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

Luke 4:9 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,

Matthew 19:4 ESV / 9 helpful votes

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 9 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.”

Daniel 5:2 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.

1 Peter 4:8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Colossians 3:18 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Ephesians 5:31-32 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

John 15:12 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 3:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Mark 10:6-9 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and 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 19:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

1 Chronicles 4:5 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah;

Deuteronomy 25:5-6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

Genesis 2:18-24 ESV / 8 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.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ...

Genesis 1:27-28 ESV / 8 helpful votes

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 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.”

Ephesians 5:22-24 ESV / 7 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.

Ephesians 5:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

1 Corinthians 7:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

Matthew 19:4-6 ESV / 7 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 19:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?”

Proverbs 31:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.

1 Samuel 25:43 ESV / 7 helpful votes

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.

Leviticus 18:18 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

1 John 1:7 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

1 Kings 11:1-4 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Ecclesiastes 9:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.

2 Samuel 12:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.

1 Peter 3:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

Matthew 25:1-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. ...

Matthew 19:5 ESV / 4 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’?

Exodus 15:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

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