'Wife' in the Bible

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

The Lord God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

Adam was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.”

Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain became the builder of a city, and he named the city Enoch after his son.

Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has given me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.

So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the waters of the flood.

On that same day Noah along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and his three sons’ wives entered the ark with him.

“Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you.

So Noah, along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, came out.

Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people he had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are.

When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live.

But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

So Pharaoh sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?

Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!”

Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent him away with his wife and all he had.

Then Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev—he, his wife, and all he had, and Lot with him.

Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar.

So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years.

God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.

But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring.

“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.“There, in the tent,” he answered.

The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.

At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

But his wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.

Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”

Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’

Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.

Then Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him.

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children,

for the Lord had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household on account of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites:

After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,

but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.

Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder.

Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.

My master put me under this oath: ‘You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live

but will go to my father’s household and to my family to take a wife for my son.’

He said to me, ‘The Lord before whom I have walked will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s household.

Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master’s son, just as the Lord has spoken.”

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death.

Now Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah,

This was the field that Abraham bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

Isaac was 40 years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.”

When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

Then Abimelech said, “What is this you’ve done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”

So Abimelech warned all the people with these words: “Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly die.”

Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: “Don’t take a wife from the Canaanite women.

Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman.”

Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her.”

And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her.

When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

“Get me this girl as a wife,” he told his father Hamor.

Hamor said to Jacob’s sons, “My son Shechem is strongly attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

Demand of me a high compensation and gift; I’ll give you whatever you ask me. Just give the girl to be my wife!”

These are the names of Esau’s sons:Eliphaz son of Esau’s wife Adah,and Reuel son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz,bore Amalek to Eliphaz.These were the sons of Esau’s wife Adah.

These are Reuel’s sons:Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.These were the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamahdaughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon:She bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah to Edom.

These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son:Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.These are the chiefs of Reuelin the land of Edom.These are the sons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

These are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah:Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.These are the chiefs of Esau’s wife Oholibamahdaughter of Anah.

There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her.

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and produce offspring for your brother.”

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to the sheepshearers.

So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face, covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

After some time his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority.

No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

When his master heard the story his wife told him—“These are the things your slave did to me”—he was furious

Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.

Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.

The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there.

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God’s staff in his hand.

Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back,

Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses’ wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God.

He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him.

If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.

“But if the slave declares: ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man,’

If he takes an additional wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.

“If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and he has sexual relations with her, he must certainly pay the bridal price for her to be his wife.

You are not to have sex with your father’s wife; it will shame your father.