Topic

Polygamy

Passages from across the Bible

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Forbidden

  • Deuteronomy 17:17 He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.
  • Leviticus 18:18 You must not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is still alive.
  • Malachi 2:14–15 Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offsp…
  • Matthew 19:4–5 Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
  • Mark 10:2–8 Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired. “What did Moses command you?” He replied. They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.” But Jesus told them, “Moses wrote this commandment for you bec…
  • 1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
  • 1 Timothy 3:12 A deacon must be the husband of but one wife, a good manager of his children and of his own household.
  • Titus 1:6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, having children who are believers and who are not open to accusation of indiscretion or insubordination.

Authorized

  • 2 Samuel 12:8 I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.

Tolerated

  • Exodus 21:10 If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife.
  • 1 Samuel 1:2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
  • 2 Chronicles 24:3 Jehoiada took for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

Practiced by

  • Job 27:15 His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.

Lamech

  • Genesis 4:19 And Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.

Abraham

  • Genesis 16 Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So afte… (whole chapter)

Esau

  • Genesis 26:34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
  • Genesis 28:9 Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, in addition to the wives he already had.

Jacob

  • Genesis 29:30 Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.

Ashur

Gideon

  • Judges 8:30 Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.

Elkanah

  • 1 Samuel 1:2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

David

  • 1 Samuel 25:39–44 On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.
  • 2 Samuel 3:2–5 And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur; his fourth was Adonijah, the son of Haggith; his fifth was Shephatiah…
  • 2 Samuel 5:13 After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
  • 1 Chronicles 14:3 And David took more wives in Jerusalem and became the father of more sons and daughters.

Solomon

  • 1 Kings 11:1–8 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh — women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women. These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your he…

Rehoboam

  • 2 Chronicles 11:18–23 And Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab. She bore sons to him: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. After her, he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. Rehoboam loved…

Abijah

  • 2 Chronicles 13:21 But Abijah grew strong, married fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

Jehoram

  • 2 Chronicles 21:14 So behold, the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives, and all your possessions with a serious blow.

Joash

Ahab

  • 2 Kings 10 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying: “When this letter arrives, since your master’s sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and… (whole chapter)

Jehoiachin

  • 2 Kings 24:15 Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the king’s mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Belshazzar

  • Daniel 5:2 Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.

See

Hosea

  • Hosea 3:1–2 Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethec…

Mosaic law respecting the firstborn in

  • Deuteronomy 21:15–17 If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son, when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife. Instead, he must acknow…

Sought by women

  • Isaiah 4:1 In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothes. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!”

The evil effects of

Husband' s favoritism in

  • Deuteronomy 21:15–17 If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son, when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife. Instead, he must acknow…

Jacob' s

  • Genesis 29:30 Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.
  • Genesis 30:15 But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

Elkanah' s

  • 1 Samuel 1:5 But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb.

Rehoboam' s

  • 2 Chronicles 11:21 Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Domestic unhappiness

In Abraham' s family

  • Genesis 16 Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So afte… (whole chapter)
  • Genesis 21:9–16 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son, and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!” Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned…

In Jacob' s family

  • Genesis 29:30–34 Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years. When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD…
  • Genesis 30:1–23 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob. Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?” Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep…

In Elkanah' s family

  • 1 Samuel 1:4–7 And whenever the day came for Elkanah to present his sacrifice, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb. Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her riva…

With Solomon

  • 1 Kings 11:4–8 For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been. Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the sight of t…

See Concubinage

See Marriage

Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible.