61 Bible Verses about Marriage, Restrictions Concerning

And Judah saw there the daughter of a Canaanitish man whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in to her.

And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah, and gave him as wife Asnath the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

And Moses consented to remain with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

And the son of an Israelitish woman but withal the son of an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this son of the Israelitess and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;

And they took them Moabitish wives; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth: and they abode there about ten years.

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

And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken foreign wives, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren: Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. And they gave their hand to send away their wives; and they offered a ram of the flock, as trespass-offering for their guilt. And of the children of Immer: Hanani, and Zebadiah.read more.
And of the children of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. And of the children of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah. And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (that is, Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. And of the singers: Eliashib. And of the doorkeepers: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri. And of Israel; of the children of Parosh: Ramiah, and Jizzijah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. And of the children of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah. And of the children of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. And of the children of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. And of the children of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth. And of the children of Pahath-Moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. And the children of Harim: Eliezer, Jishijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Simeon, Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah. Of the children of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei. Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel, Benaiah, Bediah, Cheluhu, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasai, and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, Machnadbai, Shashai, Sharai, Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, Joseph. Of the children of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, and Joel, Benaiah. All these had taken foreign wives; and there were among them wives who had had children.

and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

And thou shalt make no marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor take his daughter for thy son; for he will turn away thy son from following me, and they will serve other gods, and the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.

For if ye in any wise go back, and cleave unto the residue of these nations, these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and come in unto them and they unto you: know for a certainty that Jehovah your God will no more dispossess these nations from before you, and they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which Jehovah your God hath given you.

So the people of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Per'izzites, the Hivites, and the Jeb'usites; and they took their daughters to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons; and they served their gods.

But king Solomon loved many foreign women, besides the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, Hittites; of the nations of which Jehovah had said to the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in to you; they would certainly turn away your heart after their gods: to these Solomon was attached in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.read more.
And it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as the heart of David his father. And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and followed not fully Jehovah, as David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, on the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

And it came to pass, as if it was a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshipped him.

Judah hath dealt unfaithfully, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the sanctuary of Jehovah which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

Now when these things were completed, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites; for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and have mingled the holy seed with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this unfaithfulness.

And while Ezra prayed, and made confession, weeping and falling down before the house of God, there were gathered to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children; for the people wept very much. And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have acted unfaithfully toward our God, and have taken foreign wives of the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing.

In those days also I saw Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab. And their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair, and adjured them by God saying, Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.read more.
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among the many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; but even him did foreign wives cause to sin. And should we hearken to you to do all this great evil, to act unfaithfully to our God by marrying foreign wives?

and that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons:

and I will make thee swear by Jehovah, the God of the heavens and the God of the earth, that thou take not a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am dwelling; but thou shalt go to my land and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.

And Esau was forty years old, when he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basmath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and to Rebecca.

And Rebecca said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good should my life do me?

And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and take a wife thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.

But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your kinsmen, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me; for she pleases me well."

And Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in unto her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bore a son.

And now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandments of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, Ye have acted unfaithfully, and have taken foreign wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. And now make confession to Jehovah the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign wives. And the whole congregation answered and said with a loud voice, Yes, it is for us to do according to thy words.read more.
But the people are many, and it is a time of pouring rain, and it is not possible to stand without: neither is this a work for one day or two; for we are many that have transgressed in this thing. Let now our princes, while this matter is going on, stand for all the congregation, and let all those that have taken foreign wives in our cities come at the appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce anger of our God be turned from us. Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest and certain of the chief fathers were separated according to their fathers' houses, and all of them expressed by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. And they ended with all the men that had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

A wife is bound for whatever time her husband lives; but if the husband be fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord.

Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers; for what participation is there between righteousness and lawlessness? or what fellowship of light with darkness?

But as to the rest, I say, not the Lord, If any brother have an unbelieving wife, and she consent to dwell with him, let him not leave her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to dwell with her, let her not leave her husband. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother; since otherwise indeed your children are unclean, but now they are holy.read more.
But if the unbeliever go away, let them go away; a brother or a sister is not bound in such cases, but God has called us in peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, if thou shalt save thy husband? or what knowest thou, O husband, if thou shalt save thy wife?

No one shall approach to any that is his near relation, to uncover his nakedness: I am Jehovah. The nakedness of thy father, and the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother: thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness.read more.
The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, born at home, or born abroad their nakedness shalt thou not uncover. The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter their nakedness shalt thou not uncover; for theirs is thy nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father: she is thy sister: thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's sister shalt thou not uncover: she is thy father's near relation. The nakedness of thy mother's sister shalt thou not uncover; for she is thy mother's near relation. The nakedness of thy father's brother shalt thou not uncover; thou shalt not approach his wife: she is thine aunt. The nakedness of thy daughter-in-law shalt thou not uncover: she is thy son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy brother's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy brother's nakedness. The nakedness of a woman and her daughter shalt thou not uncover; thou shalt not take her son's daughter, nor her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness: they are her near relations: it is wickedness. And thou shalt not take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness beside her, during her life.

And a man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall certainly be put to death; their blood is upon them. And if a man lie with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall certainly be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood is upon them.

A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's skirt.

in thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in her separation. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.

For Herod had seized John, and had bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother. For John said to him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

For the same Herod had sent and seized John, and had bound him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. For John said to Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have the wife of thy brother.

But she is also truly my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

And I, whither shall I carry my reproach? and thou wouldest be as one of the infamous in Israel. And now, I pray thee, speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from thee.

If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry a stranger abroad: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn that she beareth shall stand in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not blotted out from Israel. But if the man like not to take his brother's wife, his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel: he will not perform for me the duty of a husband's brother.read more.
Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him; and if he stand to it and say, I like not to take her; then shall his brother's wife come near to him before the eyes of the elders, and draw his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe drawn off.

moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to thy brother's wife, and fulfil to her the brother-in-law's duty, and raise up seed to thy brother.

And Naomi said, Return, my daughters: why will ye go with me? Are there yet sons in my womb, that they could be your husbands? Return, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, should I even have a husband to-night, and should I also bear sons, would ye wait on that account till they were grown? Would ye stay on that account from having husbands? No, my daughters, for I am in much more bitterness than you; for the hand of Jehovah is gone out against me.

And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth, thy handmaid: spread thy skirt over thy handmaid; for thou hast the right of redemption.

And Boaz said, On the day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

saying, Teacher, Moses said, If any one die, not having children, his brother shall marry his wife and shall raise up seed to his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren; and the first having married died, and not having seed, left his wife to his brother. In like manner also the second and the third, unto the seven.

Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if any one's brother die, and leave a wife behind, and leave no children, that his brother shall take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother. There were seven brethren; and the first took a wife, and dying did not leave seed; and the second took her and died, and neither did he leave seed; and the third likewise.read more.
And the seven took her and did not leave seed. Last of all the woman also died.

demanded of him saying, Teacher, Moses wrote to us, If any one's brother, who has a wife, die, and he die childless, his brother shall take the wife and raise up seed to his brother. There were then seven brethren: and the first, having taken a wife, died childless; and the second took the woman, and he died childless;read more.
and the third took her: and in like manner also the seven left no children and died;

But when Onan knew that the seed should not be his own, it came to pass when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, in order to give no seed to his brother.

And he that had the right of redemption said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance. Redeem thou for thyself what I should redeem, for I cannot redeem it.

And if a man seduce a virgin that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall certainly endow her, to be his wife.

If a man find a damsel, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found, then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

For the married woman is bound by law to her husband so long as he is alive; but if the husband should die, she is clear from the law of the husband: so then, the husband being alive, she shall be called an adulteress if she be to another man; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, though she be to another man.

Jehovah grant you that ye may find rest, each in the house of her husband. And she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice and wept.

But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them that they remain even as I. But if they have not control over themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.

I will therefore that the younger marry, bear children, rule the house, give no occasion to the adversary in respect of reproach.

Every one who puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery; and every one that marries one put away from a husband commits adultery.

But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, not for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery; and he who marries one put away commits adultery.

And he says to them, Whosoever shall put away his wife and shall marry another, commits adultery against her. And if a woman put away her husband and shall marry another, she commits adultery.

But to the married I enjoin, not I, but the Lord, Let not wife be separated from husband; (but if also she shall have been separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband;) and let not husband leave wife.

When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, it shall be if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a letter of divorce, and give it into her hand, and send her out of his house. And she shall depart out of his house, and go away, and may become another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a letter of divorce, and give it into her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die who took her as his wife;read more.
her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for it is an abomination before Jehovah; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except for cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery, and whosoever marries one that is put away commits adultery.

But if the unbeliever go away, let them go away; a brother or a sister is not bound in such cases, but God has called us in peace.