What Does the Bible Say About Who Can Marry Two People?

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 7 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 7:1-40 ESV / 7 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. ...

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Matthew 19:4-6 ESV / 5 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 / 5 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.

Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV / 4 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, ...

Luke 16:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Matthew 19:1-30 ESV / 4 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’? ...

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ESV / 4 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.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Colossians 3:1-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ...

Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 3 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 19:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Matthew 19:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

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’?

Hebrews 13:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ...

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:22-23 ESV / 2 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.

Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ...

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 7:15 ESV / 2 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 7:12-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 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 7:1-9 ESV / 2 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. ...

Luke 14:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Mark 10:11-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Mark 10:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Mark 10:2 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?”

Mark 10:1-52 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. 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. ...

Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 2 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 5:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Matthew 1:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, ...

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 2 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 2:14-16 ESV / 2 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. 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. “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.”

Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Ruth 1:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

Deuteronomy 24:1-22 ESV / 2 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. “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken. ...

Exodus 20:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall not commit adultery.

Genesis 2:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Genesis 2:22-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 1:26-28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 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.”

42 Bible Verses about Who Can Marry Two People

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:4-6 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Ephesians 5:22-33 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 16:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:1-30 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 3:1-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

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

Hebrews 13:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:22-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:12-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:1-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 14:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 10:11-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 10:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Mark 10:1-52 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

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

Malachi 2:14-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ruth 1:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 24:1-22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Genesis 2:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:22-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:26-28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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