43 Bible Verses about Polygamy

"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from [her] husband commits adultery.

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all of these women and their offspring, according to the advice of my lord and those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

"And it was said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'

"When a man takes a wife and he marries her {and then} {she does not please him}, because he found {something objectionable} and writes her a letter of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her [away] from his house,

Therefore the overseer must be irreproachable, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching,

If anyone is blameless, [the] husband of one wife, having faithful children, not {accused of dissipation} or rebellious.

And he must not {acquire many} wives for himself, so that his heart [would] turn aside; and {he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively}.

{Did not one God make them?} But a remnant of [the] spirit is his. And what does the one [God] desire? An offspring of God. {You must be attentive to} your spirit, and you must not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

And he answered [and] said, "Have you not read that the one who created [them] from the beginning made them male and female

"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from [her] husband commits adultery.

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all of these women and their offspring, according to the advice of my lord and those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

"And it was said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'

"When a man takes a wife and he marries her {and then} {she does not please him}, because he found {something objectionable} and writes her a letter of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her [away] from his house,

Therefore the overseer must be irreproachable, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching,

If anyone is blameless, [the] husband of one wife, having faithful children, not {accused of dissipation} or rebellious.

And he must not {acquire many} wives for himself, so that his heart [would] turn aside; and {he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively}.

{Did not one God make them?} But a remnant of [the] spirit is his. And what does the one [God] desire? An offspring of God. {You must be attentive to} your spirit, and you must not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

And he answered [and] said, "Have you not read that the one who created [them] from the beginning made them male and female

And you must not take [as wife] a woman with her sister, to be a rival-wife, to expose her nakedness before her {during} her life.

Therefore the overseer must be irreproachable, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching,

Deacons must be husbands of one wife, managing [their] children and their own households well.

If anyone is blameless, [the] husband of one wife, having faithful children, not {accused of dissipation} or rebellious.

And he must not {acquire many} wives for himself, so that his heart [would] turn aside; and {he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively}.

David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters [were] born to him.

And sons [were] born to David in Hebron; his firstborn [was] Amnon by Ahinoam {from Jezreel}. His second [was] Kileab by Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; the third [was] Absalom the son of Maacah, [who was] the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. The fourth [was] Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth [was] Shephatiah the son of Abital. read more.
The sixth [was] Ithream by Eglah the wife of David. These [were] born to David in Hebron.

When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, "Blessed be Yahweh who has vindicated the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and he has kept back his servant from evil; but Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his [own] head." Then David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her for his wife. So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you for his wife." She got up and bowed down [with] her face to the ground and said, "Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants." read more.
Then Abigail {quickly got up} and rode on the donkey, [along with] five of her maidservants who {attended her}, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife. David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. (Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who [was] from Gallim.)

And David took more wives in Jerusalem, and David fathered more sons and daughters.

He had two wives; the name of the first [was] Hannah, and the name of the second [was] Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

If he takes for himself another, he will not reduce her food, her clothing, or her right of cohabitation.

And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he fathered sons and daughters.

Then he also went in to Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with him yet another seven years. When Yahweh saw that Leah [was] unloved he opened her womb, but Rachel [was] barren. Then Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, "Because Yahweh has noticed my misery, that I [am] unloved. Now my husband will love me." read more.
And she conceived again and gave birth to a son. And she said, "[It is] because Yahweh has heard that I [am] unloved that he gave me this [son] also." And she called his name Simeon. And she conceived again and gave birth to a son. Then she said, "Now this time my husband will be joined to me, for I have borne him three sons." Therefore, she called his name Levi.

When Rachel saw that she could not bear children to Jacob, Rachel envied her sister. And she said to Jacob, "Give me children--if not, I will die!" And Jacob {became angry} with Rachel. And he said, "[Am] I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" Then she said, "Here [is] my servant girl Bilhah; go in to her that she may bear children {as my surrogate}. Then I will even {have children} by her." read more.
Then she gave him Bilhah, her female servant, as a wife, and Jacob went in to her And Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob. Then Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore she called his name Dan. And Bilhah, Rachel's servant, conceived again and bore a second son to Jacob. And Rachel said, "I have struggled a mighty struggle with my sister and have prevailed." And she called his name Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took Zilpah her female servant and gave her to Jacob as a wife. And Zilpah, the female slave of Leah, bore a son to Jacob. Then Leah said, "Good fortune!" And she called his name Gad. And Zilpah, Leah's female servant, bore a second son to Jacob. Then Leah said, "How happy [am] I! For women have called me happy." So she called his name Asher. And in the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and he brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." And she said to her, "[Is] your taking my husband [such] a small [thing] that you will also take the mandrakes of my son?" Then Rachel said, "Then he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes." When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him. And she said, "Come in to me, for {I have hired} you with my son's mandrakes." And he slept with her that night. And God listened to Leah and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. Then Leah said, "God has given [me] my wage since I gave my servant girl to my husband." And she called his name Issachar. And Leah conceived again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. And Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good gift. This time my husband will acknowledge me, because I bore him six sons." And she called his name Zebulun. And afterward she gave birth to a daughter. And she called her name Dinah. Then God remembered Rachel and listened to her, and God opened her womb. And she conceived and gave birth to a son. And she said, "God has taken away my disgrace."

And she said to her, "[Is] your taking my husband [such] a small [thing] that you will also take the mandrakes of my son?" Then Rachel said, "Then he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes."

Then he also went in to Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with him yet another seven years.

And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne Abraham, mocking. Then she said to Abraham, "Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman will not be heir with my son, with Isaac." And the matter {displeased Abraham very much} on account of his son. read more.
Then God said to Abraham, "{Do not be displeased} on account of the boy and on account of the slave woman. {Listen to everything that Sarah said to you}, for through Isaac [your] offspring will be named. And I will also make the son of the slave woman into a nation, for he is your offspring." Then Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave [it] to Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder. And he sent her away with the child, and she went, wandering about in the wilderness, in Beersheba. And when the water was finished from the skin, she put the child under one of the bushes. And she went and {she sat a good distance away}, for she said, "Let me not see the child's death." So she sat away from him and lifted up her voice and wept.

And [when] Esau was forty years old he took as wife Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite.

then Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, sister of Nebaioth, as a wife, in addition to the wives he had.

Then Rehoboam took to himself as a wife Mahalath, the daughter of Yerimot son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. And she bore to him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom, who bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. read more.
And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters). And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as chief and crown prince over his brothers, in order to make him king. And he dealt wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout all the land of Judah and Benjamin, through all the fortified cities, and gave abundant provisions to them and obtained many wives [for them].

"If a man has two wives, [and] the one [is] loved and the [other] one [is] disliked and the one loved and the one that is disliked have borne for him sons, if it happens [that] the firstborn son {belongs to the one that is disliked}, [nevertheless] {it will be the case that} on the day of bestowing his inheritance upon his sons, he will not be allowed to treat as [the] firstborn son the son of the beloved [wife] {in preference to} the son of the disliked [wife], [who is] the firstborn [son]. But he shall acknowledge the firstborn son of the disliked [wife] {by giving} him a double portion of {all that he has}, for he [is] the firstfruit of his vigor; to him [is] the legal claim of the birthright.

"If a man has two wives, [and] the one [is] loved and the [other] one [is] disliked and the one loved and the one that is disliked have borne for him sons, if it happens [that] the firstborn son {belongs to the one that is disliked}, [nevertheless] {it will be the case that} on the day of bestowing his inheritance upon his sons, he will not be allowed to treat as [the] firstborn son the son of the beloved [wife] {in preference to} the son of the disliked [wife], [who is] the firstborn [son]. But he shall acknowledge the firstborn son of the disliked [wife] {by giving} him a double portion of {all that he has}, for he [is] the firstfruit of his vigor; to him [is] the legal claim of the birthright.

It happened at the time of Solomon's old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father [had been]. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of [the] Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully [follow] after Yahweh as David his father. read more.
At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which {faces} Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the {Ammonites}. Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.

King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite; from the nations which Yahweh had said to the {Israelites}, "You shall not {marry them}, and they shall not {marry you}. They will certainly turn your heart after other gods." But Solomon clung to them to love. He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart. read more.
It happened at the time of Solomon's old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father [had been]. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of [the] Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully [follow] after Yahweh as David his father. At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which {faces} Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the {Ammonites}. Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.

{On} the day Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give {a double portion}, because he loved Hannah, though Yahweh had closed her womb. (Now her rival wife would provoke her severely in order to upset her because Yahweh had closed her womb.) read more.
And so he used to do year after year; {whenever} she went up to the house of Yahweh, she would provoke her so that she would weep and would not eat.

And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines (for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters).

Their survivors are buried through the plague, and their widows do not weep.

He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; the mother of the king, the wives of the king, his court officials, and the citizenry of the land he caused to go into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

behold, Yahweh is inflicting a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions,

But Abijah became strong, and he took to himself fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

I gave you the household of your master and the women of your master into your lap. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah; if [that had been too] little, I would have added to you {much more}.

And Yahweh said to me again, "Go, love a woman {who has a lover} and [is] committing adultery, just like the love of Yahweh [for] the children of Israel, but they [are] turning to other gods and love raisin cakes." So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barely and a measure of wine.

Then he also went in to Rachel, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with him yet another seven years.

And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he fathered sons and daughters.

But to Hannah he would give {a double portion}, because he loved Hannah, though Yahweh had closed her womb.

And seven women shall grasp at one man on that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread, and we will wear our own clothing; only {let us be called by your name}! Take away our disgrace!"

He had two wives; the name of the first [was] Hannah, and the name of the second [was] Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Now Gideon had seventy sons, {his own offspring}, for he had many wives.

And Lamech took to himself two wives. The name of the first [was] Adah, and the name of the second [was] Zillah.

And Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives: Helah and Naarah.

And the son of Ethan [was] Azariah.

{When he tasted the wine}, Belshazzar commanded [that they] bring [the] vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar his {predecessor} had taken from the temple that [was] in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines may drink from them.