contraception
What does the Bible say about contraception? These are the passages readers found most helpful — tap any citation to read it in context.
10 passages · most helpful first
3Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb.
28And God blessed them, and he said, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the flying creatures of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
3Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb. 4Like arrows in the hand of the powerful, so are the sons of those who have been cast out. 5Blessed is the man who has filled his desire from these things. He will not be confounded when he speaks to his enemies at the gate.
1Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3A husband should fulfill his obligation to his wife, and a wife should also act similarly toward her husband. 4It is not the wife, but the husband, who has power over her body. But, similarly also, it is not the husband, but the wife, who has power over his body. 5So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence. 6But I am saying this, neither as an indulgence, nor as a commandment.
8Therefore, Judah said to his son Onan: “Enter to the wife of your brother, and associate with her, so that you may raise offspring to your brother.” 9He, knowing that the sons to be born would not be his, when he entered to the wife of his brother, he spilled his seed on the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name. 10And for this reason, the Lord struck him down, because he did a detestable thing.
29For behold, the days will arrive in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts that have not nursed.’
5“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.”
1About the same time, Judah, descending from his brothers, turned toward an Adullamite man, named Hirah. 2And he saw there the daughter of a man called Shua, of Canaan. And taking her as a wife, he entered to her. 3And she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Er. 4And conceiving offspring again, having given birth to a son, she called him Onan. 5Likewise, she bore a third, whom she called Shelah, after whose birth, she ceased to bear any more. 6Then Judah gave a wife to his first born Er, whose name was Tamar.
15Yet she will be saved by bearing children, if she has continued in faith and love, and in sanctification accompanied by self-restraint.
5So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence.