'Wives' in the Bible
And Lemech took two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the second, Zillah.
And Lemech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, Ye wives of Lemech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for my wound, and a youth for my bruise.
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took themselves wives of all that they chose.
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt go into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
On the same day went Noah, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
Go out of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him.
And Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, a daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
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 Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.
Give me my wives for whom I have served thee, and my children; that I may go away, for thou knowest my service which I have served thee.
if thou shouldest afflict my daughters, or if thou shouldest take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and thee!
And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok;
These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade in it. And the land behold, it is of wide extent before them. We will take their daughters as wives, and give them our daughters.
and all their goods, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and plundered them, and all that was in the houses.
Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his possessions, that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went into a country away from his brother Jacob.
These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, fed the flock with his brethren; and he was doing service with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them.
And thou art commanded this do: take waggons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and take up your father, and come.
And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, on the waggons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
All the souls that came with Jacob to Egypt, that had come out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives: all the souls were sixty-six.
And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.
and my anger shall burn, and I will slay you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings that are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.
And why is Jehovah bringing us to this land that we may fall by the sword, that our wives and our little ones may become a prey? Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?
And they got up from the habitation of Koran, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the entrance of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones.
Our little ones, our wives, our cattle, and all our beasts shall be there in the cities of Gilead;
Only your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, I know that ye have much cattle, shall abide in your cities which I have given you,
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and one hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and the firstborn son be hers that was hated;
your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, as well the hewer of thy wood as the drawer of thy water;
Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall abide in the land that Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan, but ye, all the valiant men, shall go over in array before your brethren and help them,
and they took their daughters to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons; and they served their gods.
Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.
What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives?"
Then the elders of the congregation said, "What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?"
Yet we cannot give them wives of our daughters." For the people of Israel had sworn, "Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin."
And the Benjaminites did so, and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off; then they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the towns, and dwelt in them.
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 he had two wives: the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
David had also taken Ahinoam of Jizreel; and they became, even both of them, his wives.
And David abode with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household; David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jizreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.
And David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burnt with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters were taken captives.
And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jizreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken: and David recovered his two wives.
So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jizreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron; and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.
and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast put to shame this day the faces of all thy servants who have this day saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives and the lives of thy concubines;
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
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 so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, the goodliest, are mine.
And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben-Hadad saying: I sent to thee indeed, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
And the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeks mischief; for he sent to me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not.
And a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant feared Jehovah; and the creditor is come to take my two children to be bondmen.
And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his chamberlains, and the mighty of the land, he led into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon;
And Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah And Naarah.
And with them by their generations, according to their fathers' houses, were military bands for war, thirty-six thousand; for they had many wives and sons.
And Shaharaim begot children in the land of Moab after he had sent away Hushim and Baara his wives.
And David took more wives at Jerusalem: and David begot more sons and daughters.
And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities; and he gave them food in abundance. And he desired for them a multitude of wives.
But Abijah strengthened himself, and took fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
And all Judah stood before Jehovah, with their little ones, their wives, and their sons.
behold, Jehovah will smite with a great stroke thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy substance,
and they came up into Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was no son left him, except Jehoahaz the youngest of his sons.
And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begot sons and daughters.
And behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
and to all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, the whole congregation of those entered in the register; for in their trust they hallowed themselves to be holy.
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.
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.
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.
And they ended with all the men that had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month.
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.
All these had taken foreign wives; and there were among them wives who had had children.
And I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them: remember the Lord who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses.
And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the doorkeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all they that had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, every one having knowledge and having understanding,
In those days also I saw Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab.
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 when the king's edict which he shall make shall be heard throughout his realm for it is great all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, from the greatest to the least.
And their houses shall be turned unto others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah.
Therefore will I give their wives unto others, their fields to those that shall possess them; for every one, from the least even unto the greatest, is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely.
and the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, because of the famine and the sword; and there shall be none to bury them, them, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters; and I will pour their wickedness upon them.
Therefore give up their children to the famine, and deliver them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of children and be widows; and let their men be swept off by death, their young men be smitten by the sword in battle.
Take wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and be not diminished.
because they have committed infamy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken words of falsehood in my name, which I had not commanded them: and I am he that knoweth, and am witness, saith Jehovah.
And we have hearkened unto the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters,
And they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand; for thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assemblage, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will certainly perform our vows which we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the heavens, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her. Ye will certainly establish your vows, and entirely perform your vows.