Original collection
Polygamy One man having more than one wife. This is in bold contrast to the clear principle of one man, one woman, for life. Gen 2:24, Matt 19:4-6, Mk 10:7-8, 1 Cor 7:2, Eph 5:31
Key KJV Scriptures:
Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; 1 Corinthians 7:2-4; 1 Timothy 3:2,12
Key KJV Scriptures: Full Text
160 indexed verses · Showing 41–80. Read each passage in its chapter context.
Genesis 30:8 (KJV)
And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.
Genesis 30:9 (KJV)
When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
Genesis 30:10 (KJV)
And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son.
Genesis 30:11 (KJV)
And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.
Genesis 30:12 (KJV)
And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son.
Genesis 30:13 (KJV)
And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.
Genesis 30:14 (KJV)
And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.
Genesis 30:15 (KJV)
And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.
Genesis 30:16 (KJV)
And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
Genesis 30:17 (KJV)
And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.
Genesis 30:18 (KJV)
And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.
Genesis 30:19 (KJV)
And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.
Genesis 30:20 (KJV)
And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.
Genesis 30:21 (KJV)
And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
Genesis 30:22 (KJV)
And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
Genesis 30:23 (KJV)
And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
Exodus 21:10 (KJV)
If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
Leviticus 18:18 (KJV)
Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.
Deuteronomy 17:17 (KJV)
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
Deuteronomy 21:15 (KJV)
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:
Deuteronomy 21:16 (KJV)
Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:
Deuteronomy 21:17 (KJV)
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
Judges 8:30 (KJV)
And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.
1 Samuel 1:2 (KJV)
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.
1 Samuel 1:4 (KJV)
And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:
1 Samuel 1:5 (KJV)
But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb.
1 Samuel 1:6 (KJV)
And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.
1 Samuel 1:7 (KJV)
And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.
1 Samuel 25:39 (KJV)
And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
1 Samuel 25:40 (KJV)
And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.
1 Samuel 25:41 (KJV)
And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
1 Samuel 25:42 (KJV)
And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
1 Samuel 25:43 (KJV)
David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
1 Samuel 25:44 (KJV)
But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.
2 Samuel 3:2 (KJV)
And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess;
2 Samuel 3:3 (KJV)
And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
2 Samuel 3:4 (KJV)
And the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
2 Samuel 3:5 (KJV)
And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.
2 Samuel 5:13 (KJV)
And David took him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were yet sons and daughters born to David.
2 Samuel 12:8 (KJV)
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.
Reference selections include Orville J. Nave’s public-domain topical index, via Brady Stephenson’s bible-data (CC BY 4.0). Titles and references have been normalized, duplicates merged, and references checked against the site’s KJV. This is a passage-finding aid; its classifications do not establish doctrine.
Also find this topic by: Bigamy.