86 Bible Verses about Wives

A steadfast woman is a crown unto her husband; but she that behaveth herself dishonestly is a corruption in his bones.

Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine upon the walls of thy house, thy children like the olive branches round about thy table.

House and riches may a man have by the heritage of his elders; but a discreet woman is the gift of the LORD.

Whoso findeth a honest faithful woman, she is much more worth than pearls. The heart of her husband may safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoils. She rendereth him good and not evil all the days of her life.read more.
She occupieth wool and flax, and laboureth gladly with her hands. She is like the merchants' ship, that bringeth her victuals from afar. She riseth ere day and giveth meat to her household, and food to her maidens. She considereth land, and buyeth it; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and courageth her arms. And if she perceiveth that her housewifery doth good, her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her fingers to the spindle, and her hand taketh hold of the rock. She openeth her hand to the poor, yea she stretcheth forth her hands to such as have need She feareth not that the cold of winter shall hurt her house, for all her household folks are double clothed. She maketh herself fair ornaments; her clothing is white silk and purple. Her husband is much set by in the gates, when he sitteth among the rulers of the land. She maketh cloth of silk and selleth it, and delivereth a girdle unto the merchant. Strength and honour is her clothing, and in the latter day she shall rejoice. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of grace. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not her bread with idleness. Her children arise, and call her blessed: and her husband maketh much of her. Many daughters there be that gather riches together, but thou goest above them all. Favour is a deceitful thing, and beauty is vanity; but a woman that feareth God, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and receiveth an wholesome benefit of the LORD.

Let thy well be blessed; and be glad with the wife of thy youth.

Drink of the water of thine own well, and of the rivers that run out of thine own springs.

Women: submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Wives, submit your own selves unto your own husbands, as it is comely in the Lord.

Likewise, let the wives be in subjection to their husbands, that even they which believe not the word, may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives:

to make the young women soberminded, to love their husbands, to love their children,

for this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands before their eyes, and shall say, 'The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to come before him, but she would not.'

And when this commandment of the king, which shall be made, is published throughout all his empire - which is great - all women shall hold their husbands in honor; both among great and small."

But and if the servant say, 'I love my master and my wife and my children, I will not go out free.'

Likewise, ye men, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as unto them that are heirs also of the grace of life, that your prayers be not let.

And therefore I am joyful in the LORD, and my soul rejoiceth in my God. For he shall put upon me the garment of salvation, and cover me with the mantle of righteousness. He shall deck me like a bridegroom, and as a bride that hath her apparel upon her.

And he said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, there is no man that leaveth house: other father and mother, other brethren, or wife, or children: for the kingdom of God's sake,

Let no man believe his friend, nor put his confidence in a prince. Keep the door of thy mouth, from her that lieth in thy bosom:

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thine own son or thy daughter or the wife that lieth in thy bosom or thy friend which is as thine own soul unto thee, entice thee secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve strange gods which thou hast not known nor yet thy fathers, of the gods of the people which are round about thee, whether they be nigh unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the land unto the other': see thou consent not unto him nor hearken unto him. No, let not thine eye pity him nor have compassion on him, nor keep him secret, but cause him to be slain.read more.
Thine hand shall be first upon him to kill him; and then the hands of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones that he die, because he hath gone about to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God which brought thee out of Egypt, the house of bondage.

And God created man after his likeness, after the likeness of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Then said Adam, "This is once bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. This shall be called woman: because she was taken of the man." For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

So did not the one, and yet had he an excellent spirit. What did then the one? He sought the seed promised of God. Therefore look well to your spirit, and let no man despise the wife of his youth.

He answered, and said unto them, "Have ye not read, how that he which made man at the beginning, made them man and woman? and said, 'For this thing, shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.' Wherefore now are they not twain, but one flesh. Let not man therefore put asunder, that which God hath coupled together."

But at the first creation, God made them man and woman, saying, 'And for this thing's sake shall man leave his father and mother, and bide by his wife, and they twain shall be made one flesh.' So then are they now not twain, but one flesh.read more.
Therefore, what God hath coupled, let not man separate."

And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper to bear him company."

And Adam gave names unto all manner cattle, and unto the fowls of the air, and unto all manner beasts of the field. But there was no help found unto Adam to bear him company. Then the LORD God cast a slumber on Adam, and he slept. And then he took out one of his ribs, and in stead thereof he filled up the place with flesh. And the LORD God made of the rib which he took out of Adam, a woman, and brought her unto Adam.

For the husband is the wife's head, even as Christ is the head of the congregation, and the same is the saviour of the body.

I would ye knew that Christ is the head of every man; and the man is the woman's head; and God is Christ's head.

And unto the woman he said, "I will surely increase thy sorrow and make thee oft with child, and with pain shalt thou be delivered: And thy lusts shall pertain unto thy husband and he shall rule thee."

Also thou shalt make no marriages with them, neither give thy daughter unto his son nor take his daughter unto thy son. For they will make your sons depart from me and serve strange gods, and then will the wrath of the LORD wax hot upon you and destroy you shortly.

And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and when their daughters go a whoring after their gods,

But and if ye shall go back and cleave unto the rest of these nations that remain with you and shall make marriages with them, and shall go to them and they come to you: be sure that the LORD your God will not cast out all these nations before you. But they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges for your sides, and pricks in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

Women: submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the wife's head, even as Christ is the head of the congregation, and the same is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the congregation is in subjection to Christ, likewise let the wives be in subjection to their husbands in all things.

Likewise, let the wives be in subjection to their husbands, that even they which believe not the word, may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives: while they behold your pure conversation coupled with fear. Whose apparel shall not be outward with broided hair, and hanging on of gold, other in putting on of gorgeous apparel:read more.
but let the hid man of the heart be uncorrupt, with a meek and a quiet spirit, which spirit is, before God, a thing much set by. For after this manner in the old time did the holy women which trusted in God tire themselves, and were obedient to their husbands, even as Sara obeyed Abraham and called him "Lord" - whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well, not being afraid of every shadow.

to make the young women soberminded, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be of discreet, chaste, housewifely, good, and obedient unto their own husbands, that the word of God be not evil spoken of.

"Thou shalt not break wedlock.

'Thou shalt not break wedlock.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, 'If any man's wife go aside and trespass against him, so that another man lie with her, fleshly; and the thing be hid from the eyes of her husband and is not come to light that she is defiled - for there is no witness against her, inasmuch as she was not taken with the manner -read more.
and the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him and he is jealous over his wife, and she defiled; or haply the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he is jealous over his wife and she yet undefiled. Then let her husband bring her unto the priest and bring an offering for her: the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal, but shall pour none oil thereunto, nor put frankincense thereon: for it is an offering of jealousy, and an offering that maketh remembrance of sin. "'And let the priest bring her and set her before the LORD, and let him take holy water in an earthen vessel and of the dust that is in the floor of the habitation, and put it into the water. And the priest shall set the wife before the LORD and uncover her head, and put the memorial of the offering in her hands which is the jealousy offering, and the priest shall have bitter and cursing water in his hand, and he shall conjure her and shall say unto her: If no man have lain with thee, neither hast gone aside and defiled thyself behind thy husband, then have thou no harm of this bitter, cursing water. But and if thou hast gone aside behind thine husband and art defiled and some other man hath lain with thee, beside thine husband - and let the priest conjure her with the conjuration of the curse, and say unto her: the LORD make thee a curse and a conjuration among thy people: so that the LORD make thy thigh rot, and thy womb to burst, and this bitter cursing water go into the bowels of thee, that thy womb burst and thy thigh rot. And the wife shall say: Amen, Amen. "'And the priest shall write this curse in a bill and wash it out in the bitter water. And when the cursing water is in her that it is bitter, then let the priest take the jealousy offering out of the wife's hand, and wave it before the LORD, and bring it unto the altar: and he shall take a handful of the memorial offering and burn it upon the altar, and then make her drink the water. And when he hath made her drink the water, if she be defiled and have trespassed against her husband, then shall the cursing water go into her and be so bitter, that her womb shall burst and her thigh shall rot, and she shall be a curse among her people. And if she be not defiled but is clean, then she shall have no harm, but that she may conceive. This is the law of jealousy, when a wife goeth aside behind her husband and is defiled, or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon a man, so that he is jealous over his wife: then he shall bring her before the LORD, and the priest shall minister all this law unto her, and the man shall be guiltless, and the wife shall bear her sin."

For a whore is a deep grave, and a harlot is a narrow pit.

For Herod had taken John and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, "It is not lawful for thee to have her."

For Herod himself had sent forth, and had taken John, and bound him and cast him into prison for Herodias' sake, which was his brother Philip's wife. For he had married her. John said unto Herod, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife."

And if a woman forsake her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery."

Then Herod the Tetrarch; when he was rebuked of him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done;

The wife is bound to the law as long as her husband liveth. If her husband sleep, she is at liberty to marry with whom she will only in the Lord. But she is happier if she so abide, in my judgement. And I think verily that I have the spirit of God.

I say unto the unmarried men, and widows: it is good for them if they abide even as I do, but and if they cannot abstain, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn.

And Isaac made intercession unto the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

And they said unto him, "Where is Sara, thy wife?" And he said, "In the tent." And he said, "I will come again unto thee as soon as the fruit can live. And lo, Sara thy wife shall have a son." That heard Sara, out of the tent door which was behind his back. Abraham and Sara were both old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sara after the manner as it is with wives.read more.
And Sara laughed in herself saying, "Now I am waxed old, shall I give myself to lust, and my lord old also?" Then said the LORD unto Abraham, "Wherefore doth Sara laugh saying, 'shall I of a surety bear a child, now when I am old?' Is the thing too hard for the LORD to do? In the time appointed will I return unto thee, as soon as the fruit can have life. And Sara shall have a son." Then Sara denied it, saying, "I laughed not." For she was afraid. But he said, "Yes, thou laughtest."

And there was a man in Zorah of the kindred of the Danites, named Manoah, whose wife was barren and bare not. And the Angel of the LORD appeared unto his wife and said unto her, "Behold, thou art barren and bearest not: But thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And now beware, and drink no wine nor strong drink; neither eat any unclean thing.read more.
For see, thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And there may no razor or shearers come on his head: for the lad shall be an abstainer unto God, even from the time of his birth. And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines."

Then Hannah rose up after that they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. And Eli the priest sat upon a stool by one of the side posts of the temple of the LORD. And she was troubled in her spirits, and prayed unto the LORD and wept sore, and vowed a vow and said, "LORD of Hosts, if thou wilt look on the wretchedness of thine handmaid and shalt remember me and not forget thine handmaid, and shalt give unto thine handmaid a man child I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life and there shall neither razor or shears come upon his head."read more.
And as she continued praying before the LORD, Eli marked her mouth - For Hannah, she spake in her heart; and her lips did but move only, but her voice was not heard. And therefore Eli took her for drunken, and said unto her, "How long wilt thou be drunken? Put away from thee the wine that thou hast." Hannah answered, and said, "Not so, my lord. I am a woman sorrowful in mine heart, and have drunk neither wine nor any strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD. Count not thine handmaid to be like a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my meditation and grief have I spoken hitherto." Eli answered, and said, "Go in peace, the God of Israel shall grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him." Then she said, "Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight." And so the woman went her way, and did eat and looked no more so sad. And they rose up early and bowed themselves before the LORD, and then returned and went to their house to Ramah. And Elkanah lay by his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. And in process of time she conceived and bare a son, and called his name Samuel: because she had asked him of the LORD.

In the time of Herod, the king of Jewry, there was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah. And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron: And her name was Elizabeth. Both were perfect before God, and walked in all the laws and ordinances of the Lord, that no man could find fault with them. And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren; And both were well stricken in age.read more.
And it came to pass, as he executed the priest's office before God as his course came, according to the custom of the priest's office his lot was to burn incense. And he went into the temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were without, in their prayers, while the incense was a burning. And there appeared unto him, an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was abashed, and fear came on him. And the angel said unto him, "Fear not Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard: And thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John: And thou shalt have joy and gladness: And many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall neither drink wine nor strong drink. And he shall be filled with the holy ghost, even in his mother's womb: and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to their Lord God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the unbelievers to the wisdom of the just men: to make the people ready for the Lord." And Zacharias said unto the angel, "Whereby shall I know this? Seeing that I am old, and my wife well stricken in years." And the angel answered, and said unto him, "I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee: and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak until the time that these things be performed, because thou believedst not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season." And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them. Whereby they perceived, that he had seen some vision in the temple. And he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. And it fortuned, as soon as the time of his office was out, he departed home into his own house. And after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, "This wise hath God dealt with me, in the days when he looked on me, to take from me the rebuke that I suffered among men."

Then Saul sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him and to slay him in the morning. But Michal his wife told it him saying, "If thou save not thyself this night, tomorrow thou art a dead man." And so Michal let David down through a window, and he went and fled and saved himself. And then she took an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow stuffed with goat's hair under the head of it, and covered it with a cloth.read more.
And when Saul sent messengers to fetch David, she said that he was sick. Then Saul sent the messengers to see David saying, "Bring him to me, bed and all, that he may be slain." And when the messengers were come in, "Behold there lay an image in the bed, with a pillow of goat's hair under the head of it. Then said Saul to Michal, "Why hast thou mocked me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped?" And Michal answered Saul, "He said unto me, 'Let me go, or else I will kill thee.'"

But one of the lads told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "See, David sent messengers unto our master out of the wilderness to salute him, and he railed on them. And yet the men were very good unto us and did us no displeasure, neither missed we anything, as long as were conversant with them, when we were in the fields. But they were a wall of defense unto us both by night and also by day, all the while we were with them keeping sheep.read more.
Now take heed and see what thou hast to do, for it is concluded to do mischief unto our master and to all his household. And he is ungracious to speak to." Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two bottles of wine and five sheep ready dressed and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred bundles of raisins and two hundred frails of figs, and laded them on asses, and said unto her young men, "Go before me, and see I come after you," and told her husband Nabal nothing thereof. And as she rode on her ass and was coming down in a slade of the hill, David and his men came down against her, and she met them. And David said, "In vain have I kept all that this fellow had in the wilderness: so that nought was missed that pertained unto him, for he hath quite me with evil for good. God do this and yet more unto the enemies of David, if until tomorrow in the morning I leave this man, of all that he hath, so much as one that pisseth against the wall." When Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off her ass and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and fell at his feet and said, "Let this unhappy deed be counted mine, my lord, and let thine handmaid speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thy handmaid. Let not my lord regard this unthrifty man Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him. But I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord which thou sendest. And now my lord as sure as the LORD liveth and as thy soul liveth, the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood and from avenging thyself with thine own hand. Furthermore, I pray God that thine enemies and they that intend to do my lord evil, may be as Nabal. And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. Forgive the trespass of thine handmaid that the LORD may make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and there could none evil be found in thee in all thy life. And if any man rise to persecute thee and to seek thy soul, the soul of my lord be bound in a bundle of life with the LORD thy God. And the souls of thy enemies be slung in the middle of a sling. And moreover when the LORD shall have done to my lord all the good that he hath promised thee, and shall have made thee ruler over Israel: then shall it be no grudge of conscience unto thee or discourage of heart unto my lord, that thou sheddest blood causeless and didst avenge thyself. And moreover when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then think on thine handmaid." Then said David to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me. And blessed be thy behaviour, and blessed be thou which hath kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed - as sure as the LORD God of Israel liveth which hath kept me back from hurting thee - except thou hadst hasted and met me, there had not been left Nabal, by the dawning of the day, a pisser against the wall." And so David received of her hand that she brought him, and said to her, "Go in peace to thine house. And see, I have obeyed thy voice and have received thee to grace."

And the elder women likewise that they be in such raiment as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much drinking, but teachers of honest things, to make the young women soberminded, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be of discreet, chaste, housewifely, good, and obedient unto their own husbands, that the word of God be not evil spoken of.

When he was set down to give judgment, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have thou nothing to do with that just man, I have suffered many things this day in a dream about him."

and said unto his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!" But his wife said unto him, "If the LORD would kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering of our hands; neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would have told us as he hath of things to come."

So by reason of this matter, that had happened to the king and his lords, the queen went up herself into the banquet house, and spake unto the king, saying, "O king, God save thy life forever: Let not the thoughts trouble thee, and let not thy countenance be changed. For why? There is a man in thy kingdom, that hath the spirit of the holy gods within him, as it was seen in thy father's days. He hath understanding and wisdom like the gods; Yea, the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father made this man chief of the soothsayers, charmers, Chaldeans and devil conjurers: because that such an abundant spirit, knowledge and wisdom, to expound dreams, open secrets, and to declare hard doubts, was found in him. Yea, even in Daniel, whom the king named Balteshazzar. Let this same Daniel be sent for, and he shall tell what it meaneth."

An indiscreet son is the heaviness of his father; and a brawling wife is like the top of a house, wherethrough it is ever dropping.

It is better to dwell in a wilderness, than with a chiding and an angry woman.

It is better to sit in a corner under the roof, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God as he walked in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam hid himself and his wife also from the face of the LORD God, among the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called Adam and said unto him, "Where art thou?" And he answered, "Thy voice I heard in the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked, and therefore hid myself."read more.
And he said, "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, of which I bade thee that thou shouldest not eat?" And Adam answered, "The woman which thou gavest to bear me company, she took me of the tree, and I ate."

And he had seven hundred very Queens and three hundred concubines which turned always his heart. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods: so that his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

And Ahab said to Elijah, "Hast thou found me thine enemy at any time?" And he said, "Yea, because thou art utterly given to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will make clean riddance of thee, and will destroy unto Ahab all that pisseth against the wall, and if ought be prisoned or forsaken in Israel: and will make thine house, like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the angering wherewith thou hast angered and made Israel sin."read more.
And thereto against Jezebel came the word of the LORD, saying, "Dogs shall eat Jezebel, under the walls of Jezreel. And he that dieth of Ahab in the town, him shall dogs eat: and he that dieth in the fields, him shall the fowls of the air eat." For there was none at all like Ahab, that was so utterly given to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, and that because Jezebel his wife pricked him forward. And therefore he did exceeding abominably, in following Idols, in all things like as did the Amorites which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

Then said his wife unto him, "Dost thou yet continue in thy perfectness? Curse God, and die."

But like as a woman faileth her lover, so are ye unfaithful unto me, O ye house of Israel, sayeth the LORD.'"

Now when I went by thee, and looked upon thee: behold, thy time was come; yea, even the time to vow thee. Then spread I my clothes over thee, to cover thy dishonesty: Yea, I made an oath unto thee, and married myself with thee, sayeth the LORD God; and so thou becamest mine own.

And like as a young man taketh a daughter to marriage, so shall God marry himself unto thy sons. And as a bridegroom is glad of his bride, so shall God rejoice over thee.

"Go thy way, cry in the ears of Jerusalem, and say, 'Thus sayeth the LORD: I remember thee for the kindness of thy youth, and because of thy steadfast love: in that thou followedst me through the wilderness, in an untilled land.

but as a wife that breaketh wedlock, and taketh other instead of her husband.

First, when the LORD spake unto Hosea, he said unto him, "Go thy way, take a harlot to thy wife, and get children by her: for the land hath committed great whoredom against the LORD."

As for your mother, ye shall chide with her, and reprove her: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband, unless she put away her whoredoms out of my sight, and her adultery from her breasts.

And I, John, saw that holy city, new Jerusalem, come down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride garnished for her husband.

Husbands: love your wives, even as Christ loved the congregation, and gave himself for it, to sanctify it, and cleansed it in the fountain of water through the word, to make it unto himself a glorious congregation without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blame.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him: for the marriage of the lamb is come, and his wife made herself ready.