Bible Verses About Polygamy
Ranked by the OpenBible.info topical community
These are the Bible verses most often cited for polygamy, ranked by the OpenBible.info topical community across 42,579 votes, led by Exodus 21:10. Each passage links to its verse page or the interactive map; scripture is the King James Version.
Top verses about Polygamy
Exodus 21:101,119 votes
If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
Deuteronomy 21:15-171,027 votes
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:
Genesis 4:19987 votes
And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
2 Samuel 12:8948 votes
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.
Isaiah 4:1826 votes
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
Judges 8:30803 votes
And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.
2 Chronicles 11:21797 votes
And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines; and begat twenty and eight sons, and threescore daughters.)
2 Chronicles 13:21776 votes
But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.
1 Timothy 3:2776 votes
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
2 Chronicles 24:1-3749 votes
Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Zibiah of Beer–sheba.
2 Samuel 5:13745 votes
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.
1 Kings 11:1-4744 votes
But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
Genesis 30:9733 votes
When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.
1 Chronicles 4:5714 votes
And Ashur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.
Genesis 2:24712 votes
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
2 Chronicles 24:3710 votes
And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
1 Samuel 1:1-2685 votes
Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim–zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:
1 Chronicles 3:1-9679 votes
Now these were the sons of David, which were born unto him in Hebron; the firstborn Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess:
Deuteronomy 17:17677 votes
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
Genesis 30:4657 votes
And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.
Matthew 25:1-46654 votes
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Deuteronomy 25:5-10650 votes
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her.
Numbers 12:1618 votes
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
Ezekiel 23:1-4614 votes
The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
Deuteronomy 17:14-20607 votes
When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
What does the Bible say about polygamy?
Readers most often cite Exodus 21:10 on the subject of polygamy. Across 42,579 votes, 25 passages are commonly cited for this topic, including Deuteronomy 21:15-17, Genesis 4:19, 2 Samuel 12:8. This page lists all 25 in ranked order, quoted in the King James Version, with each linked to its cross-references.