40 Bible Verses about Sisters

Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, and younger women like sisters, with absolute purity.

They are not to come in contact with a dead body, so they don't defile themselves, except in the case of their father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or for an unmarried sister, on whose behalf they may defile themselves.

The LORD told Moses, "Speak to the priests, Aaron's sons, and tell them that no priest is to defile himself on account of the dead among his people, except his close relatives his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or virgin sister (who is a near relative of him and did not have a husband he may defile himself for her).

"During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to come near a dead body. He is not to defile himself on account of his father, mother, brother, and sister when they die, because the crown of his consecration to God is on his head.

There once was a man in the land of Uz named Job. The man was blameless as well as upright. He feared God and kept away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters had been born to him. His livestock included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and many servants. Indeed, the man's stature greatly exceeded that of many people who lived in the East. read more.
His sons used to travel to each other's houses in turn on a regular schedule and hold festivals, inviting their three sisters to celebrate with them.

Tamar rubbed her head with ashes, tore her tunic that she was wearing, put her hand to her head, and ran off, crying aloud as she went away. Later, her brother Absalom asked her, "Has Amnon, that brother of yours, raped you? Then keep quiet about your half-brother for now, my sister. Stop taking this so personally." From that time on, Tamar lived in continuous desolation within her brother Absalom's house.

Besides, she really is my sister she's my father's daughter, but not my mother's daughter so she could become my wife.

"You are not to have sexual relations with your sister, whether she's your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she's born in your home or outside your home. You are not to have sexual relations with her.

"You are not to have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife. Born of your father, she's your sister, so you are not to have sexual relations with her. "You are not to have sexual relations with your father's sister. She's your father's near blood relative. "You are not to have sexual relations with your mother's sister. She's your mother's near blood relative.

"If a man takes his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, so that he exposes her nakedness and she exposes his nakedness, it's a shameful thing. They are to be eliminated from contact with their people in front of their people's children. He has exposed his sister's nakedness. He'll continue to bear responsibility for his iniquity.

""Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

One of you commits detestable practices with his neighbor's wife. Another sexually defiles his daughter-in-law. Another humiliates his sister, his own father's daughter.

Some time later, Dinah, Leah's daughter whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Hamor the Hivite's son Shechem, the regional leader, saw her, he grabbed her and raped her, humiliating her. He was attached to Dinah, Jacob's daughter, since he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. read more.
Then Shechem told his father Hamor, "Get this young woman for me to be my wife." Because Jacob learned that Shechem had dishonored his daughter Dinah while his sons were still out with their cattle on the open range, he remained silent until they returned. Meanwhile, Shechem's father Hamor arrived to talk to Jacob. Just then Jacob's sons arrived from the field. When they heard what had happened, they were distraught with grief and livid with anger toward Shechem, because he had committed a disgraceful deed in Israel by forcing Jacob's daughter to have sex, an act that never should have happened. But Hamor said this: "My son is deeply attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and take our sons for yourselves. Live with us anywhere you want. Live, trade, and grow rich in it." Shechem also addressed Dinah's father and brothers. He told them, "If you'll just approve me, I'll give whatever you ask of me. No matter how big or how extensive your demands are for a dowry and wedding presents from me, I'll provide whatever you ask. Only give me the young lady to be my wife." But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceptively, because Shechem had dishonored their sister Dinah. They told them, "We can't do this. We can't give our sister to a man who isn't circumcised, because that would be insulting to us. But we'll agree to your request, only if you will become like us by circumcising every male among you. Then we'll give our daughters to you and take your daughters for ourselves, live among you, and be as a united people. But if you won't listen to us, then we're going to take our daughter and leave." What they said pleased Hamor and his son Shechem, so the young man did not delay the matter any further, since he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now Shechem was the most important person in his father's household. So Hamor and his son Shechem entered the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city. "These men are at peace with us," they announced. "Therefore, let them live in the land and trade in it. Look! The land is large enough for them. Let's take their daughters as wives for ourselves and let's give our sons to them. "However," they added, "only on this condition will the men consent to live with us and be united as a single people with us: every male among us will have to be circumcised just as they are. Shouldn't all their cattle, acquisitions, and animals belong to us? So, let's give our consent to them, and then they'll live with us." All of the males who heard Hamor and his son Shechem, who had gone out to the city gate, were circumcised. Three days later, while they were still in pain, Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah's brothers, each grabbed a sword and entered the city unannounced, intending to kill all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took back Dinah from Shechem's house, and left. Jacob's other sons came along afterward and plundered the city where their sister had been defiled, seizing all of their flocks, herds, donkeys, and whatever else was in the city or had been left out in the field. They carried off all their wealth, their children, and their wives as captives, plundering everything that remained in the houses. Then Jacob told Simeon and Levi, "You have certainly stirred up trouble for me! You've made me despised by the Canaanites and the Perizzites who live in this territory. Because I have only a few men with me, they're going to gather themselves together and attack me until I am totally destroyed, along with my entire household!" "Should he have treated our sister like a whore?" they asked in response.

Sometime after this, David's son Amnon fell in love with David's other son Absalom's beautiful sister Tamar. Amnon became so emotionally distressed that he fell sick over his half-sister Tamar. She was a virgin, and Amnon found it difficult to do anything to her. Meanwhile, Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, who was the son of David's brother Shimeah. Now Jonadab was a very shrewd man. read more.
"Why are you so depressed these past few mornings," Jonadab asked Amnon, "since you're a son of the king? Why not tell me?" Amnon replied, "I'm in love with my brother Absalom's sister Tamar." Jonadab advised him, "Lie down and pretend to be sick. When your father visits you, ask him, "Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat that she prepares especially for me, and after she makes dinner for me, let her feed it to me personally.'" So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came to visit him, Amnon asked the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make some of her bread especially for me, so she can feed it to me personally." So David sent for Tamar back at the palace, telling her, "Please go to your brother Amnon's home and prepare some food for him." Tamar went to her brother Amnon's home, where he was lying down. She brought along some dough, kneaded it, prepared some cakes especially for him, baked them, and emptied the baking skillet just for him, but he refused to eat. "Send everybody out of here," Amnon said. So everyone left the room. Amnon told Tamar, "Bring the food into my private bedroom, so I can eat it with you personally." So Tamar took the cakes she had prepared and brought them into the private bedroom for her brother Amnon. But as soon as she brought them near him to eat, he overpowered her and told her, "Come here and have sex with me, my sister!" "No, my brother!" she kept telling him. "Don't humiliate me like this! This just isn't done in Israel! Don't do this utterly foolish thing! And what about me? Where will I go to escape this disgrace? And as for you, you'll be known as one of Israel's greatest fools! So please talk to the king, because he won't withhold me from you!" But he was unwilling to listen to what she was saying. Since he was stronger than she was, he forced her into having sex with him. Afterwards, though, Amnon hated her very intensely. As a result, his hatred for her exceeded the love that he had previously for her. So Amnon told her, "Get up! Leave!" Even so, she tried to tell him, "No! After all, it's more wrong to send me away than what you just did to me!" But he was unwilling to listen to her. So he called out to a young man who was serving him, and told him: "Send this woman away from me and lock the door after her." Now she was clothed in a long sleeved, multi-colored ornamental tunic, commonly worn by the king's virgin daughters. When Amnon's servant threw her out and locked the door after her, Tamar rubbed her head with ashes, tore her tunic that she was wearing, put her hand to her head, and ran off, crying aloud as she went away.

Two full years later, Absalom took some men to Baal-hazor near Ephraim to shear his sheep. He also invited all of the king's sons to come. Absalom had gone to the king to ask him, "I've brought some men to shear the sheep. Won't you please come and join me, along with your senior staff?" But King David declined, saying to Absalom, "No, my son, we won't all go, since that would be too much trouble for you." Although Absalom begged David, he would not go, even though he did give his blessing.read more.
So Absalom responded, "If you aren't coming, please allow my brother Amnon to accompany us." The king asked, "Why should he go with you?" But Absalom kept begging David until he sent Amnon and all of David's sons to accompany Absalom. Then Absalom instructed his young men, "Please keep watching Amnon until he's drunk. Then I'll tell you, "Attack Amnon!' As soon as I do, kill him and don't be afraid! You have your orders, so be strong and brave!" So Absalom's young men did to Amnon just as they had been ordered, but the rest of David's sons jumped up, mounted their mules, and escaped. While they were still on the road, this rumor came to David: "Absalom has struck down all of the king's sons and none of them has survived." David arose, ripped his clothes in anguish, and collapsed to the ground while all of his staff stood by with their own clothes torn. But David's brother Shimeah's son Jonadab reported, "Your majesty, don't assume they've killed all of the young men the king's sons only Amnon has died, since that was Absalom's intention from the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. Now your majesty, don't be concerned about this rumor that all the king's sons have died, because only Amnon is dead." Meanwhile, Absalom had run away. While the young man standing watch was looking around, all of a sudden he observed many people coming down the road behind and to the west of the mountain! So the watchman left his post and reported, "I have seen men coming from the direction of Horonaim." Jonadab told the king, "Look! Here come the king's sons. This thing has turned out just like your servant reported." Just as he finished his comments, the king's sons arrived, crying loudly. At this, with tears overflowing, the king and his entire staff wept bitterly.

There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live because the famine was so severe. When he was about to enter Egypt, he told his wife Sarai, "Look, I'm aware that you're a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, "She is his wife.' Then they'll kill me, but allow you to live. read more.
Please say that you are my sister, so things will go well for me for your sake. That way, you'll be saving my life." As Abram was entering Egypt, the Egyptians noticed how beautiful Sarai was. When Pharaoh's officials saw her, they brought her to the attention of Pharaoh and took the woman to Pharaoh's palace. He treated Abram well because of her, so Abram acquired sheep, oxen, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, "What have you done to me! Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, "She is my sister,' so that I took her as a wife for myself? Now, here is your wife! Take her and get out!" So Pharaoh assigned men to Abram, and they escorted him, his wife, and all that he had out of the country.

Abraham traveled from there to the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was living in Gerar as an outsider, because Abraham kept saying about his wife Sarah, "She is my sister," King Abimelech of Gerar summoned them and took Sarah into his household. But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night and spoke to him, "Pay attention! You're about to die, because the woman you have taken is a man's wife!"read more.
Now Abimelech had not yet come near her, so he asked, "LORD, will you destroy an innocent nation? Didn't he say to me, "She's my sister'? And she also said, "He's my brother.' I did this with pure intentions and clean hands." Then God replied to him in the dream, "I know that you did this with pure intentions, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I didn't allow you to touch her. Now then, return the man's wife. As a matter of fact, he's a prophet and can intercede for you so you'll live. But if you don't return her, be aware that you and all who are yours will certainly die."

Later on, a famine swept through the land. This famine was different from the previous famine that had occurred earlier, during Abraham's lifetime. So Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. That's when the LORD appeared to Isaac. "You are not to go down to Egypt," he said. "Instead, you are to settle down in an area within this land where I'll tell you. Remain in this land, and I'll be with and bless you by giving all these lands to you and to your descendants in fulfillment of my solemn promise that I made to your father Abraham. read more.
I'll cause you to have as many descendants as the stars of the heavens, and I'll certainly give all these lands to your descendants. Later on, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless one another. I'm going to do this because Abraham did what I told him to do. He kept my instructions, commands, statutes, and laws." So Isaac lived in Gerar. Later on, the men of that place asked about his wife, so he replied, "She's my sister," because he was afraid to call her "my wife." He kept thinking, ""otherwise, the men around here will kill me on account of Rebekah, since she's very beautiful." After he had been there awhile, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelech called Isaac and confronted him. "She is definitely your wife!" he accused him, "So why did you claim, "She's my sister?'" Isaac responded, "Because I had thought ""otherwise, I'll die on account of her.'" "What have you done to us?" Abimelech asked. "Any minute now, one of the people could have had sex with your wife and you would have caused all of us to be guilty."

Rachel noticed that she was not bearing children for Jacob, so because she envied her sister Leah, she told Jacob, "If you don't give me sons, I'm going to die!"

Rachel's servant conceived again and bore a second son for Jacob, so Rachel said, "I've been through a mighty struggle with my sister and won." She named him Naphtali.

Now as they were traveling along, Jesus went into a village. A woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and kept listening to what he was saying. But Martha was worrying about all the things she had to do, so she came to him and asked, "Lord, you do care that my sister has left me to do the work all by myself, don't you? Then tell her to help me."read more.
The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things. But there's only one thing you need. Mary has chosen what is better, and it is not to be taken away from her."

Miriam and Aaron rebelled against Moses on account of the Cushite woman that he had married. They asked, "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Hasn't he also spoken through us?" But the LORD heard it. Now the man Moses was very humble more than any person on earth. read more.
All of a sudden, the LORD told Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "The three of you are to come out to the Tent of Meeting." So the three of them went out. Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. So both of them went forward. Then he told the two of them: "Pay attention to what I have to say! When there is a prophet among you, won't I, the LORD, reveal myself to him in a vision? Won't I speak with him in a dream? But that's not how it is with my servant Moses, since he has been entrusted with my entire household! I speak to him audibly and in visions, not in mysteries. If he can gaze at the image of the LORD, why aren't you afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" Because the LORD was very angry with them, he left, but when the cloud ascended from the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow! Aaron turned toward Miriam, and she had leprosy! Aaron begged Moses, "I pray my lord, please don't hold this sin against us, since we've acted foolishlyand sinned in doing so. Please don't let her be like one of the living dead, who is born with a congenital skin disease." So Moses prayed to the LORD: "O LORD, please heal her." But the LORD told Moses, "If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn't she be humiliated? She is to be placed in isolation for seven days. After that, she may be brought in." So Miriam was isolated outside the camp for seven days and the people didn't travel until Miriam was brought in.

However, the king's daughter Jehoshabeath took Ahaziah's son Joash away from the king's children who were about to be assassinated and hid him and his nurse in a bedroom. That's how King Jehoram's daughter Jehoshabeath, who was also the priest Jehoiada's wife and Ahaziah's sister, hid him from Athaliah. As a result, she was not able to kill him.

But King Joram's daughter Jehosheba, who was Ahaziah's sister, rescued Ahaziah's son Joash from the group of the king's sons who were being executed and hid him and his nurse in her bedroom, concealing him from Athaliah so he was not put to death.

A man of the family of Levi married the daughter of a descendant of Levi. Later, the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a beautiful child, and hid him for three months. But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus container, coated it with asphalt and pitch, placed the child in it, and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. read more.
Then his sister positioned herself some distance away in order to find out what would happen to him. ThenPharaoh's daughter came down to the Nile River to bathe while her maids walked along the river bank. She saw the container among the reeds and sent a servant girl to get it. When she opened it and saw the child, the little boy suddenly began crying. Filled with compassion for him, she exclaimed, "This is one of the Hebrew children!" Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call one of the nursing Hebrew women so she can nurse the child for you?" Pharaoh's daughter told her, "Go," so the young girl went and called the child's mother.

Then all his brothers and sisters and all those who knew him before arrived. They ate food with him in his house, mourned for him, and consoled him for all the trouble that the LORD had brought and placed on him. Some gave him gold bullion and some brought gold earrings.

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the woman who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was the one who was ill. So the sisters sent word to Jesus and told him, "Lord, the one whom you love is ill."

Judah found a wife for his oldest son Er. Her name was Tamar. But the LORD considered Er, Judah's oldest son, to be wicked so he put him to death. So Judah instructed Onan, "You are to have sexual relations with your dead brother's wife, performing the duty of a brother-in-law with her, and have offspring for your brother."read more.
But Onan knew that the offspring wouldn't be his own heir, so whenever he had sexual relations with his brother's wife, he would spill his semen on the ground to avoid fathering offspring for his brother. The LORD considered what Onan was doing to be evil, so he put him to death, too. After this, Judah told his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Go live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." But he was really thinking, ""otherwise, Shelah might die like his brothers." So Tamar left and lived in her father's house.

Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deaconess in the church at Cenchrea.

Suppose a brother or sister does not have any clothes or daily food and one of you tells them, "Go in peace! Stay warm and eat heartily." If you do not provide for their bodily needs, what good does it do? In the same way, faith by itself, if it does not prove itself with actions, is dead.

"If my hope were that my house is the afterlife itself, if I were to make my bed in darkness, if I call out to the Pit, "You're my father!' or say to the worm, "My mother!' or "My sister!' where would my hope be? "And speaking of my hope, who would notice it?read more.
Will it go down to the bars that lock the doors of the afterlife? Will we descend together into the dust?"

My son, guard what I say and treasure my commands. Keep my commands and you'll live. Guard my teaching as you do your eyesight. Strap them to your fingers and engrave them on the tablet of your heart.read more.
Say to wisdom, "You're my sister!" and call understanding your close relative, so they can keep you from an adulterous woman, from the immoral woman with her seductive words.

In the time of King Josiah the LORD told me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there. I thought, "After she has done all these things, she will return to me.' But she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw this. I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn't fear, and she, too, committed adultery. read more.
She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn't return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively," declares the LORD.

"Now, everyone who likes proverbs will quote this proverb about you, "Like mother, like daughter.' You're the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You're the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children. "Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. Your elder sister was Samaria. She and her daughters lived in the north, while your younger sister who lived in the south with her daughters was Sodom. read more.
It wasn't just that you lived like they did and committed their detestable practices, but in just a little while your behavior led you to become more corrupt than they were!" "As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "your sister Sodom and her daughters didn't do what you and your daughters have done. Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy. In their arrogance, they committed detestable practices in my presence, so when I saw it, I removed them. Samaria didn't commit half of your sins you practiced more detestable deeds than they did! You've caused your sister to be more righteous than you, because of the detestable practices that you've committed. So now, bear your own shame as you mediate for your sisters. The sins that you've committed are more detestable than theirs. That makes them more righteous than you. Indeed, be ashamed and bear your reproach, because you've made your sisters to be more righteous than you." "I'll bring them back from their captivity that is, from the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, along with the captivity of Samaria and her daughters and the captivity of your captives among them. But you'll continue to bear your own reproach and be humiliated for everything that you've done. You'll be a comfort to them. Your sister Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Then you and your daughters will be restored to your former status. "When you were being so arrogant, you never once mentioned your sister Sodom before your wickedness was revealed. Now you've become an object of derision to the inhabitants of Aram and its neighbors, including the Philistines all those around you who despise you. You are to bear the punishment of your wickedness and detestable practices," declares the LORD, "since the Lord GOD says, "I'll deal with you according to what you've done, when you despised your oath by breaking the covenant. ""Meanwhile, as for me, I'll remember my covenant with you from when you were young, because I'll establish an eternal covenant with you. Then you'll remember your behavior and be ashamed when you greet your sisters your elder sister and your younger sister. I'll give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. I'll establish my covenant with you, and then you'll know that I am the LORD. Then you will remember, be ashamed, and you won't open your mouth anymore due to humiliation when I will have made atonement for you for everything that you've done,' declares the Lord GOD."

While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Look! Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you." He asked the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" read more.
Then pointing with his hand at his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers, because whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Then his mother and his brothers arrived. Milling around outside, they sent for him, continuously summoning him. A crowd was sitting around him. They told him, "Look! Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you." He answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" read more.
Then looking at the people sitting around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, as well as his own life, he can't be my disciple.

In fact, everyone who has left his homes, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Jesus said, "I tell all of you with certainty, there is no one who has left his home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or fields because of me and the gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much here in this world homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, along with persecution as well as eternal life in the age to come.