What Does the Bible Say About Spousal Abuse?

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 8 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.

Proverbs 21:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV / 5 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.

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 5 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.”

Proverbs 21:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

Ephesians 5:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Genesis 39:7-9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

1 Corinthians 7:12-16 ESV / 3 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. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 2 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.

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 2 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.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 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.

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 1 helpful vote

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.’ ...

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 1 helpful vote

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

13 Bible Verses about Spousal Abuse

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Proverbs 21:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Proverbs 21:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Ephesians 5:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Genesis 39:7-9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

1 Corinthians 7:12-16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 1 helpful vote

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13 Bible Verses about Spousal Abuse

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 21:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 21:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Genesis 39:7-9 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:12-16 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 1 helpful vote Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 1 helpful vote Helpful Not Helpful

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1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Proverbs 21:19 ESV / 7 helpful votes

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Proverbs 21:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Ephesians 5:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Genesis 39:7-9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

1 Corinthians 7:12-16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 1 helpful vote

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 1 helpful vote