polygamy

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.

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.

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.

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.”

³⁰And he had seventy sons, who went forth from his own thigh. For he had many wives.

²¹But Rehoboam loved Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and concubines. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines. And he conceived twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher,

²¹And so Abijah, having been strengthened in his authority, took fourteen wives. And he procreated twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

¹Joash was seven years old when he had begun to reign. And he reigned for forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zibiah, from Beersheba. ²And he did what is good before the Lord during all the days of Jehoiada, the priest. ³Now Jehoiada gave to him two wives, from whom he conceived sons and daughters.

¹³Then David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he had arrived from Hebron. And other sons as well as daughters were born to David.

¹But king Solomon loved many foreign women, including the daughter of Pharaoh, and women of Moab, and of Ammon, and of Idumea, and of Sidon, and of the Hittites. ²These were of the nations about whom the Lord said to the sons of Israel: “You shall not enter to them, and none of them shall enter to anyone of yours. For they will most certainly turn aside your hearts, so that you follow their gods.” And yet, to these Solomon was joined with a greatly enflamed love. ³And for him, there were seven hundred wives, as if they were queens, and three hundred concubines. And the women turned aside his heart. ⁴And when now he was old, his heart was perverted by the women, so that he followed strange gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.

⁹Leah, perceiving that she had desisted from child-bearing, delivered Zilpah, her handmaid, to her husband.

⁵Truly, for Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, there were two wives: Helah and Naarah.

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.

³Now Jehoiada gave to him two wives, from whom he conceived sons and daughters.

¹There was a certain man from Ramah of Zophim, on Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ²And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the second was Peninnah. And Peninnah had sons. But Hannah did not have children.

¹Truly, David had these sons, who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second Daniel, from Abigail the Carmelite; ²the third Absalom, the son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth Adonijah, the son of Haggith; ³the fifth Shephatiah, of Abital; the sixth Ithream, from his wife Eglah. ⁴Therefore, six were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years and six months. Then he reigned for thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ⁵Now in Jerusalem, sons were born to him: Shammua, and Sobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, these four from Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel; ⁶also Ibhar and Elishama,

¹⁷He shall not have many wives, who might allure his mind, and he shall not have immense weights of silver and gold.

⁴And she gave him Bilhah in marriage.

¹“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be like ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the groom and the bride. ²But five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. ³For the five foolish, having brought their lamps, did not take oil with them. ⁴Yet truly, the prudent ones brought the oil, in their containers, with the lamps. ⁵Since the bridegroom was delayed, they all fell asleep, and they were sleeping. ⁶But in the middle of the night, a cry went out: ‘Behold, the groom is arriving. Go out to meet him.’

⁵When brothers are living together, and one of them dies without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry another. Instead, his brother shall take her, and he shall raise up offspring for his brother. ⁶And the first son from her, he shall call by his brother’s name, so that his name will not be abolished from Israel. ⁷But if he is not willing to take his brother’s wife, who by law must go to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and she shall call upon those greater by birth, and she shall say: ‘The brother of my husband is not willing to raise up his brother’s name in Israel; nor will he join with me.’ ⁸And immediately, they shall summon him to be sent, and they shall question him. If he responds, ‘I am not willing to accept her as a wife,’ ⁹then the woman shall approach him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall say: ‘So shall it be done to the man who was not willing to build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰And his name shall be called in Israel: The House of the Unshod.