61 Bible Verses about Marriage, Restrictions Concerning

And there he saw the daughter of a certain man of Canaan named Shua, and took her as his wife.

And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt.

And Moses was happy to go on living with the man; and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.

And a son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel and had a fight with a man of Israel by the tents;

And they took two women of Moab as their wives: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they went on living there for about ten years.

Now Sheshan had no sons, but only daughters. And Sheshan had an Egyptian servant, whose name was Jarha. And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha, his servant, as a wife; and she had Attai by him.

And among the sons of the priests who were married to strange women were these: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak and his brothers, Maaseiah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedaliah. And they gave their word that they would put away their wives; and for their sin, they gave an offering of a male sheep of the flock. And of the sons of Immer, Hanani and Zebadiah.read more.
And of the sons of Harim, Maaseiah and Elijah and Shemaiah and Jehiel and Uzziah. And of the sons of Pashhur, Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah. And of the Levites, Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (that is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. And of the music-makers, Eliashib; and of the door-keepers, Shallum and Telem and Uri. And of Israel, the sons of Parosh, Ramiah and Izziah and Malchijah and Mijamin and Eleazar and Malchijah and Benaiah. And of the sons of Elam, Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel and Abdi and Jeremoth and Elijah. And of the sons of Zattu, Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth and Zabad and Aziza. And of the sons of Bebai, Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. And of the sons of Bani, Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub and Sheal, Jeremoth. And of the sons of Pahath-moab, Adna and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel and Binnui and Manasseh. And of the sons of Harim, Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah. Of the sons of Hashum, Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei. Of the sons of Bani, Maadai, Amram, and Uel, Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu, And Bani and Binnui, Shimei; And Shelemiah and Nathan and Adaiah, Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, Azarel and Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, Joseph. Of the sons of Nebo, Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah. All these had taken strange wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had offspring.

Or take their daughters for your sons; for when their daughters give worship before their gods, they will make your sons take part with them.

Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons. For through them your sons will be turned from me to the worship of other gods: and the Lord will be moved to wrath against you and send destruction on you quickly.

For if you go back, joining yourselves to the rest of these nations who are still among you, getting married to them and living with them and they with you: Then you may be certain that the Lord your God will not go on driving these nations out from before you; but they will become a danger and a cause of sin to you, a whip for your sides and thorns in your eyes, till you are cut off from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

Now the children of Israel were living among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: And they took as wives the daughters of these nations and gave their daughters to their sons, and became servants to their gods.

Now a number of strange women were loved by Solomon, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: The nations of which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you; or they will certainly make you go after their gods: to these Solomon was united in love. He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives; and through his wives his heart was turned away.read more.
For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did. Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon. And so he did for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods.

And as if copying the evil ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was a small thing for him, he took as his wife Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidon, and became a servant and worshipper of Baal.

Judah has been acting falsely, and a disgusting thing has been done in Jerusalem; for Judah has made unclean the holy place of the Lord which is dear to him, and has taken as his wife the daughter of a strange god.

Now after these things were done, the captains came to me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not kept themselves separate from the people of the lands, but have taken part in the disgusting ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands; and in fact the captains and rulers have been the first to do this evil.

Now while Ezra was making his prayer and his statement of wrongdoing, weeping and falling down before the house of God, a very great number of men and women and children out of Israel came together round him: for the people were weeping bitterly. And Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answering, said to Ezra, We have done evil against our God, and have taken as our wives strange women of the peoples of the land: but still there is hope for Israel in this question.

And in those days I saw the Jews who were married to women of Ashdod and Ammon and Moab: And their children were talking half in the language of Ashdod; they had no knowledge of the Jews' language, but made use of the language of the two peoples. And I took up the cause against them, cursing them and giving blows to some of them and pulling out their hair; and I made them take an oath by God, saying, You are not to give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.read more.
Was it not in these things that Solomon, king of Israel, did wrong? among a number of nations there was no king like him, and he was dear to his God, and God made him king over all Israel: but even he was made to do evil by strange women. Are we then without protest to let you do all this great evil, sinning against our God by taking strange women for your wives?

And that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the lands, or take their daughters for our sons;

And take an oath by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living; But that you will go into my country and to my relations and get a wife there for my son Isaac.

And when Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite: And Isaac and Rebekah had grief of mind because of them.

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?

Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan; But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

Then his father and mother said to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your relations or among all my people, that you have to go for your wife to the Philistines, who are without circumcision? But Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she is pleasing to me.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and the Lord made her with child and she gave birth to a son.

Let us now make an agreement with our God to put away all the wives and all their children, if it seems right to my lord and to those who go in fear of the words of our God; and let it be done in keeping with the law.

And Ezra the priest got to his feet and said to them, You have done wrong and taken strange women for your wives, so increasing the sin of Israel. So now, give praise to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and make yourselves separate from the peoples of the land and from the strange women. Then all the people, answering, said with a loud voice, As you have said, so it is right for us to do.read more.
But the number of people is great, and it is a time of much rain; it is not possible for us to go on waiting outside, and this is not a thing which may be done in one day or even two: for our sin in this business is great. So now let our rulers be representatives for all the people, and let all those in our towns who are married to strange women come at fixed times, and with them the responsible men and the judges of every town, till the burning wrath of our God is turned away from us, and this has been done. Only Jonathan, the son of Asahel, and Jahzeiah, the son of Tikvah, were against this, Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them. So those who had come back did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of families, by their fathers' families, all of them by their names, were marked out; and on the first day of the tenth month they took their places to go into the question with care. And they got to the end of all the men who were married to strange women by the first day of the first month.

It is right for a wife to be with her husband as long as he is living; but when her husband is dead, she is free to be married to another; but only to a Christian.

Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark?

But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a Christian, and it is his desire to go on living with her, let her not go away from her husband. For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy.read more.
But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another. For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?

You may not have sex connection with anyone who is a near relation: I am the Lord. You may not have sex relations with your father or your mother: she is your mother, you may not take her. And you may not have sex relations with your father's wife: she is your father's.read more.
You may not take your sister, the daughter of your father or of your mother, wherever her birth took place, among you or in another country. You may not have sex relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, for they are part of yourself; Or your father's wife's daughter, the child of your father, for she is your sister. You may not have sex connection with your father's sister, for she is your father's near relation. You may not have sex connection with your mother's sister, for she is your mother's near relation. You may not have sex relations with the wife of your father's brother, for she is of your family; Or with your daughter-in-law, for she is your son's wife, and you may not take her. You may not have sex relations with your brother's wife, for she is your brother's. You may not take as wife a woman and her daughter, or her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, for they are of one family: it is an act of shame. And you may not take as wife a woman and at the same time her sister, to be in competition with her in her life-time.

And the man who has sex relations with his father's wife has put shame on his father: the two of them are to be put to death; their blood will be on them. And if a man has sex relations with his son's wife, the two of them are to be put to death: it is unnatural; their blood will be on them.

A man may not take his father's wife or have sex relations with a woman who is his father's.

In you they have let the shame of their fathers be seen; in you they have done wrong to a woman at the time when she was unclean. And in you one man has done what was disgusting with his neighbour's wife; and another has made his daughter-in-law unclean; and another has done wrong to his sister, his father's daughter.

For Herod had taken John and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. Because John had said to him, It is not right for you to have her.

For Herod himself had sent men out to take John and put him in prison, because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had taken for himself. For John said to Herod, It is wrong for you to have your brother's wife.

And, in fact, she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife:

What will become of me in my shame? and as for you, you will be looked down on with disgust by all Israel. Now then, go and make your request to the king, for he will not keep me from you.

If brothers are living together and one of them, at his death, has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to be married outside the family to another man: let her husband's brother go in to her and make her his wife, doing as it is right for a brother-in-law to do. Then the first male child she has will take the rights of the brother who is dead, so that his name may not come to an end in Israel. But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do.read more.
Then the responsible men of the town will send for the man, and have talk with him: and if he still says, I will not take her; Then his brother's wife is to come to him, before the responsible men of the town, and take his shoe off his foot, and put shame on him, and say, So let it be done to the man who will not take care of his brother's name. And his family will be named in Israel, The house of him whose shoe has been taken off.

And, further, I have taken Ruth, the Moabitess, who was the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to keep the name of the dead man living in his heritage, so that his name may not be cut off from among his countrymen, and from the memory of his town: you are witnesses this day.

Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do; make her your wife and get offspring for your brother.

But Naomi said, Go back, my daughters; why will you come with me? Have I more sons in my body, to become your husbands? Go back, my daughters, and go on your way; I am so old now that I may not have another husband. If I said, I have hopes, if I had a husband tonight, and might have sons, Would you keep yourselves till they were old enough? would you keep from having husbands for them? No, my daughters; but I am very sad for you that the hand of the Lord is against me.

And he said, Who are you? And she answering said, I am your servant Ruth: take your servant as wife, for you are a near relation.

Then Boaz said, On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage.

Master, Moses said, If a man, at the time of his death, has no children, let his brother take his wife, and get a family for his brother; Now there were among us seven brothers; and the first was married and at his death, having no seed, gave his wife to his brother; In the same way the second and the third, up to the seventh.

Master, in the law Moses says, If a man's brother comes to his end, and has a wife still living and no child, it is right for his brother to take his wife, and get a family for his brother. There were seven brothers: and the first took a wife, and at his death there were no offspring; And the second took her, and at his death there were no offspring; and the third the same:read more.
And all the seven had no seed. Last of all the woman herself came to her death.

Master, Moses said that if a man's brother comes to his end, having a wife, but no children, his brother is to take the wife, and get a family for his brother. Now there were seven brothers, and the first had a wife and came to his end, having no children; And the second;read more.
And the third took her; and in the same way, all the seven, without having any children, came to their end.

But Onan, seeing that the offspring would not be his, went in to his brother's wife, but let his seed go on to the earth, so that he might not get offspring for his brother.

And the near relation said, I am not able to do the relation's part, for fear of damaging the heritage I have: you may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself.

If a man takes a virgin, who has not given her word to another man, and has connection with her, he will have to give a bride-price for her to be his wife.

If a man sees a young virgin, who has not given her word to be married to anyone, and he takes her by force and has connection with her, and discovery is made of it; Then the man will have to give the virgin's father fifty shekels of silver and make her his wife, because he has put shame on her; he may never put her away all his life.

For the woman who has a husband is placed by the law under the power of her husband as long as he is living; but if her husband is dead, she is free from the law of the husband. So if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will get the name of one who is untrue to her husband: but if the husband is dead, she is free from the law, so that she is not untrue, even if she takes another man.

May the Lord give you rest in the houses of your husbands. Then she gave them a kiss; and they were weeping bitterly.

But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them to be even as I am. But if they have not self-control let them get married; for married life is better than the burning of desire.

So it is my desire that the younger widows may be married and have children, controlling their families, and giving the Evil One no chance to say anything against them,

Everyone who puts away his wife and takes another, is a false husband: and he who is married to a woman whose husband has put her away, is no true husband to her.

And I say to you, Whoever puts away his wife for any other cause than the loss of her virtue, and takes another, is a false husband: and he who takes her as his wife when she is put away, is no true husband to her.

And he said to them, Whoever puts away his wife and takes another, is false to his wife; And if she herself puts away her husband and takes another, she is false to her husband.

But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband (Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife.

If a man takes a wife, and after they are married she is unpleasing to him because of some bad quality in her, let him give her a statement in writing and send her away from his house. And when she has gone away from him, she may become another man's wife. And if the second husband has no love for her and, giving her a statement in writing, sends her away; or if death comes to the second husband to whom she was married;read more.
Her first husband, who had sent her away, may not take her back after she has been wife to another; for that is disgusting to the Lord: and you are not to be a cause of sin in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.

But I say to you that everyone who puts away his wife for any other cause but the loss of her virtue, makes her false to her husband; and whoever takes her as his wife after she is put away, is no true husband to her.

But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.