'Wives' in the Bible
Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah.
Lamech said to his wives,“Adah and Zillah,Listen to my voice,You wives of Lamech,Give heed to my speech,For I have killed a man for wounding me;And a boy for striking me;
that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood.
On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark,
“Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.
Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart; for you yourself know my service which I have rendered you.”
If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses.
Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
Then Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters and all his household, and his livestock and all his cattle and all his goods which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land away from his brother Jacob.
These are the records of the generations of Jacob.Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.
Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come.
Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
All the persons belonging to Jacob, who came to Egypt, his direct descendants, not including the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six persons in all,
and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”
So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and their sons and their little ones.
Our little ones, our wives, our livestock and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead;
But your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you,
He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,
your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water,
Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them,
and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
Now Gideon had seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives.
What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”
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?”
But we cannot give them wives of our daughters.” For the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.”
The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they carried away. And they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the cities and lived in them.
They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
He had two wives: the name of 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 Jezreel, and they both became his wives.
And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow.
When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.
Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives.
So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
Meanwhile David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron; and more sons and daughters were born to David.
I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!
Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines,
He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
‘Your silver and your gold are mine; your most beautiful wives and children are also mine.’”
Then the messengers returned and said, “Thus says Ben-hadad, ‘Surely, I sent to you saying, “You shall give me your silver and your gold and your wives and your children,”
Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, “Please observe and see how this man is looking for trouble; for he sent to me for my wives and my children and my silver and my gold, and I did not refuse him.”
Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”
So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah.
With them by their generations according to their fathers’ households were 36,000 troops of the army for war, for they had many wives and sons.
Shaharaim became the father of children in the country of Moab after he had sent away Hushim and Baara his wives.
Then David took more wives at Jerusalem, and David became the father of more sons and daughters.
Eleazar died and had no sons, but daughters only, so their brothers, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.
Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
He acted wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the territories of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities, and he gave them food in abundance. And he sought many wives for them.
But Abijah became powerful; and took fourteen wives to himself, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
All Judah was standing before the Lord, with their infants, their wives and their children.
behold, the Lord is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives and all your possessions with a great calamity;
and they came against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king’s house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters.
For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
The genealogical enrollment included all their little children, their wives, their sons and their daughters, for the whole assembly, for they consecrated themselves faithfully in holiness.
For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.”
So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel.
Now therefore, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”
Let our leaders represent the whole assembly and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.”
They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.
Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah.
They pledged to put away their wives, and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their offense.
All these had married foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.
When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.”
Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.
Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding,
Their little ones also will be dashed to piecesBefore their eyes;Their houses will be plunderedAnd their wives ravished.
“Their houses shall be turned over to others,Their fields and their wives together;For I will stretch out My handAgainst the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord.
“Therefore I will give their wives to others,Their fields to new owners;Because from the least even to the greatestEveryone is greedy for gain;From the prophet even to the priestEveryone practices deceit.
The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will pour out their own wickedness on them.
Therefore, give their children over to famineAnd deliver them up to the power of the sword;And let their wives become childless and widowed.Let their men also be smitten to death,Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
Take wives and become the fathers of 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 do not decrease.
because they have acted foolishly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who knows and am a witness,” declares the Lord.’”
We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or our daughters,
They will also bring out all your wives and your sons to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned with fire.’”
Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying,
thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: ‘As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, “We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” Go ahead and confirm your vows, and certainly perform your vows!’
When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.
Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.
but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified.
The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions’ den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves;