multiple wives
What does the Bible say about multiple wives? These are the passages readers found most helpful — tap any citation to read it in context.
20 passages · most helpful first
10And if he takes another for him, he shall provide to the maiden a marriage, and clothing, and he shall not refuse the price of her chastity.
17He shall not have many wives, who might allure his mind, and he shall not have immense weights of silver and gold.
2But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
2Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher,
3And for him, there were seven hundred wives, as if they were queens, and three hundred concubines. And the women turned aside his heart.
1And seven women will take hold of one man, in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothing, only let us be called by your name, so as to take away our reproach.”
18Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And whoever marries her who has been divorced by her husband commits adultery.
12Deacons should be the husband of one wife, men who lead their own children and their own houses well.
15If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other hated, and they have produced children by him, and if the son of the hated wife is the firstborn, 16and if he wishes to divide his substance among his sons: he cannot make the son of the beloved wife the firstborn, and so prefer him before the son of the hated wife. 17Instead, he shall acknowledge the son of the hated wife as the firstborn, and he shall give to him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first among his children, and the rights of the firstborn are owed to him.
32But I say to you, that anyone who will have dismissed his wife, except in the case of fornication, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever will have married her who has been dismissed commits adultery.
19Lamech took two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah.
8And I gave the house of your lord to you, and the wives of your lord into your bosom. And I gave the house of Israel and of Judah to you. And as if these things were small, I shall add much greater things to you.
22He who has found a good wife has found goodness, and he shall draw contentment from the Lord. He who expels a good wife expels goodness. But he who holds on to an adulteress is foolish and impious.
24For this reason, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife; and the two shall be as one flesh.
3And the Pharisees approached him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to separate from his wife, no matter what the cause?” 4And he said to them in response, “Have you not read that he who made man from the beginning, made them male and female?” And he said: 5“For this reason, a man shall separate from father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife, and these two shall become one flesh. 6And so, now they are not two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.” 7They said to him, “Then why did Moses command him to give a bill of divorce, and to separate?” 8He said to them: “Although Moses permitted you to separate from your wives, due to the hardness of your heart, it was not that way from the beginning.
1Similarly also, wives should be subject to their husbands, so that, even if some do not believe the Word, they may benefit without the Word, through the behavior of these wives,
31“For this reason, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife; and the two shall be as one flesh.”
33Yet truly, each and every one of you should love his wife as himself. And a wife should fear her husband.
6if such a man is without offense, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of self-indulgence, nor of insubordination.
3And the Pharisees approached him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to separate from his wife, no matter what the cause?” 4And he said to them in response, “Have you not read that he who made man from the beginning, made them male and female?” And he said: 5“For this reason, a man shall separate from father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife, and these two shall become one flesh. 6And so, now they are not two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.” 7They said to him, “Then why did Moses command him to give a bill of divorce, and to separate?” 8He said to them: “Although Moses permitted you to separate from your wives, due to the hardness of your heart, it was not that way from the beginning.