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The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be
alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." So the LORD
God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various
birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he
would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its
name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the
air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable
partner for the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up
its place with flesh. The LORD God then built up into a woman the
rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the
man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my
bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called
'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his
wife, and the two of them become one body. The man and his wife
were both naked, yet they felt no shame. [GEN 2:18-25]
To the man he said: "Because you listened to
your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you
to eat, Cursed be the ground because of you! In
toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life.
Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat
of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face shall
you get bread to eat, Until you return to the
ground, from which you were taken; For you are
dirt, and to dirt you shall return." The man called his
wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living. [GEN
3:17-20]
The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and
bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of
the LORD." [GEN 4:1]
Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and bore
Enoch. Cain also became the founder of a city, which he named
after his son Enoch. [GEN 4:17]
Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a
son whom she called Seth. "God has granted me more offspring
in place of Abel," she said, "because Cain slew
him." [GEN 4:25]
When men began to multiply on earth and daughters were born to them,
the sons of heaven saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose.
[GEN 6:1-2]
I, on my part, am about to bring the flood (waters) on the earth, to destroy everywhere all creatures in which there is the breath of life; everything on earth shall perish.
But with you I will establish my covenant; you and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives, shall go into the ark.
Of all other living creatures you shall bring two into the ark, one male and one female, that you may keep them alive with you.
[GEN 6:17-19]
There was famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to
sojourn there, since the famine in the land was severe. When he
was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: "I know
well how beautiful a woman you are. When the Egyptians see you,
they will say, 'She is his wife'; then they will kill me, but let
you live. Please say, therefore, that you are my sister, so that
it may go well with me on your account and my life may be spared
for your sake." When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw
how beautiful the woman was; and when Pharaoh's courtiers saw her,
they praised her to Pharaoh. So she was taken into Pharaoh's
palace. On her account it went very well with Abram, and he
received flocks and herds, male and female slaves, male and female
asses, and camels. But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his household
with severe plagues because of Abram's wife Sarai. Then Pharaoh
summoned Abram and said to him: "How could you do this to me!
Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is
my sister,' so that I took her for my wife? Here, then, is your
wife. Take her and be gone!" Then Pharaoh gave men orders
concerning him, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and
all that belonged to him. [GEN 12:10-20]
Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan,
his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to
her husband Abram to be his concubine. [GEN 16:3]
God further said to Abraham: "As for your wife Sarai, do
not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her, and
I will give you a son by her. Him also will I bless; he shall give
rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall issue from him."
Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself,
"Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or
can Sarah give birth at ninety?" Then Abraham said to God,
"Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!" God replied:
"Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you
shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant with him as an
everlasting pact, to be his God and the God of his descendants
after him." [GEN 17:15-19]
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had
contracted marriage with his daughters. "Get up and leave
this place," he told them; "the LORD is about to destroy
the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. As dawn
was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "On your way!
Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or
you will be swept away in the punishment of the city." When
he hesitated, the men, by the LORD'S mercy, seized his hand and
the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety
outside the city. As soon as they had been brought outside, he was
told: "Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere
on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept
away." "Oh, no, my lord!" replied Lot. "You
have already thought enough of your servant to do me the great
kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the
hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me, and so I shall die.
Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It's only a
small place. Let me flee there - it's a small place, isn't it? -
that my life may be saved." "Well, then," he
replied, "I will also grant you the favor you now ask. I will
not overthrow the town you speak of. Hurry, escape there! I cannot
do anything until you arrive there." That is why the town is
called Zoar. The sun was just rising over the earth as Lot arrived
in Zoar; at the same time the LORD rained down sulphurous fire
upon Sodom and Gomorrah (from the LORD out of heaven). He
overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the
inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil. But Lot's
wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt. [GEN 19:14-26]
Abraham journeyed on to the region of the Negeb, where he
settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he stayed in Gerar, he said
of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech,
king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a
dream one night and said to him, "You are about to die
because of the woman you have taken, for she has a husband."
Abimelech, who had not approached her, said: "O Lord, would
you slay a man even though he is innocent? He himself told me,
'She is my sister,' and she herself also stated, 'He is my
brother.' I did it in good faith and with clean hands." God
answered him in the dream: "Yes, I know you did it in good
faith. In fact, it was I who kept you from sinning against me;
that is why I did not let you touch her. Therefore, return the
man's wife - as a spokesman he will intercede for you - that your
life may be saved. If you do not return her, you can be sure that
you and all who are yours will certainly die." Early the next
morning Abimelech called all his court officials and informed them
of everything that had happened, and the men were horrified. Then
Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him: "How could you do
this to us! What wrong did I do to you that you should have
brought such monstrous guilt on me and my kingdom? You have
treated me in an intolerable way. What were you afraid of,"
he asked him, "that you should have done such a thing?"
"I was afraid," answered Abraham, "because I
thought there would surely be no fear of God in this place, and so
they would kill me on account of my wife. Besides, she is in truth
my sister, but only my father's daughter, not my mother's; and so
she became my wife. When God sent me wandering from my father's
house, I asked her: 'Would you do me this favor? In whatever place
we come to, say that I am your brother.'" Then Abimelech took
flocks and herds and male and female slaves and gave them to
Abraham; and after he restored his wife Sarah to him, he said,
"Here, my land lies at your disposal; settle wherever you
please." To Sarah he said: "See, I have given your
brother a thousand shekels of silver. Let that serve you as a
vindication before all who are with you; your honor has been
preserved with everyone." Abraham then interceded with God,
and God restored health to Abimelech, that is, to his wife and his
maidservants, so that they could bear children; for God had
tightly closed every womb in Abimelech's household on account of
Abraham's wife Sarah. [GEN 20:1-18]
Abraham had now reached a ripe old age, and the LORD had
blessed him in every way. Abraham said to the senior servant of
his household, who had charge of all his possessions: "Put
your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the LORD,
the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not procure
a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom
I live, but that you will go to my own land and to my kindred to
get a wife for my son Isaac." The servant asked him:
"What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land?
Should I then take your son back to the land from which you
migrated?" "Never take my son back there for any
reason," Abraham told him. "The LORD, the God of heaven,
who took me from my father's house and the land of my kin, and who
confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me, 'I will give
this land to your descendants' - he will send his messenger before
you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there. If the woman is
unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But
never take my son back there!" So the servant put his hand
under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him in this
undertaking. The servant then took ten of his master's camels, and
bearing all kinds of gifts from his master, he made his way to the
city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim. Near evening, at the time when
women go out to draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well
outside the city. Then he prayed: "LORD, God of my master
Abraham, let it turn out favorably for me today and thus deal
graciously with my master Abraham. While I stand here at the
spring and the daughters of the townsmen are coming out to draw
water, if I say to a girl, 'Please lower your jug, that I may
drink,' and she answers, 'Take a drink, and let me give water to
your camels, too,' let her be the one whom you have decided upon
for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you have
dealt graciously with my master." He had scarcely finished
these words when Rebekah (who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah,
the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor) came out with a jug on her
shoulder. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, untouched by man.
She went down to the spring and filled her jug. As she came up,
the servant ran toward her and said, "Please give me a sip of
water from your jug." "Take a drink, sir," she
replied, and quickly lowering the jug onto her hand, she gave him
a drink. When she had let him drink his fill, she said, "I
will draw water for your camels, too, until they have drunk their
fill." [GEN 24:1-19]
Laban and his household said in reply: "This thing comes from the LORD; we can say nothing to you either for or against it.
Here is Rebekah, ready for you; take her with you, that she may become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has said."
When Abraham's servant heard their answer, he bowed to the ground before the LORD.
[GEN 24:50-52]
Then Isaac took Rebekah into his tent; he married her, and thus
she became his wife. In his love for her Isaac found solace after
the death of his mother Sarah. [GEN 24:67]
Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and
Shuah. [GEN 25:1-2]
Isaac entreated the LORD on behalf of his wife, since she was
sterile. The LORD heard his entreaty, and Rebekah became pregnant.
[GEN 25:21]
So Isaac settled in Gerar. When the men of the place asked
questions about his wife, he answered, "She is my
sister." He was afraid, if he called her his wife, the men of
the place would kill him on account of Rebekah, since she was very
beautiful. But when he had been there for a long time, Abimelech,
king of the Philistines, happened to look out of a window and was
surprised to see Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah. He called for
Isaac and said: "She must certainly be your wife! How could
you have said, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac replied, "I
thought I might lose my life on her account." "How could
you do this to us!" exclaimed Abimelech. "It would have
taken very little for one of the men to lie with your wife, and
you would have thus brought guilt upon us!" Abimelech
therefore gave this warning to all his men: "Anyone who
molests this man or his wife shall forthwith be put to
death." [GEN 26:6-11]
Isaac therefore called Jacob, greeted him with a blessing, and charged him: "You shall not marry a Canaanite woman!
Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother's father Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the daughters of your uncle
Laban."
[GEN 28:1-2]
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet they seemed to him
but a few days because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to
Laban, "Give me my wife, that I may consummate my marriage
with her, for my term is now completed." So Laban invited all
the local inhabitants and gave a feast. At nightfall he took his
daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob consummated the
marriage with her. In the morning Jacob was amazed: it was Leah!
So he cried out to Laban: "How could you do this to me! Was
it not for Rachel that I served you? Why did you dupe me?"
"It is not the custom in our country," Laban replied,
"to marry off a younger daughter before an older one. Finish
the bridal week for this one, and then I will give you the other
too, in return for another seven years of service with me."
Jacob agreed. He finished the bridal week for Leah, and then Laban
gave him his daughter Rachel in marriage. Jacob then consummated
his marriage with Rachel also, and he loved her more than Leah.
Thus he remained in Laban's service another seven years. [GEN 29:20-23,25-28,30]
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban:
"Give me leave to go to my homeland. Let me have my wives,
for whom I served you, and my children, too, that I may depart.
You know very well the service that I have rendered you."
Laban answered him: "If you will please.... "I have
learned through divination that it is because of you that God has
blessed me. So," he continued, "state what wages you
want from me, and I will pay them." [GEN
30:25-28]
"This mound," said Laban, "shall be a witness
from now on between you and me." That is why it was named
Galeed - and also Mizpah, for he said: "May the LORD keep
watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight. If
you mistreat my daughters, or take other wives besides my
daughters, remember that even though no one else is about, God
will be witness between you and me." [GEN 31:48-50]
Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the
members of his household, as well as his livestock comprising
various animals and all the property he had acquired in the land
of Canaan, and went to the land of Seir, out of the way of his
brother Jacob. Their possessions had become too great for them to
dwell together, and the land in which they were staying could not
support them because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the
highlands of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) [GEN 36:6-8]
Having left everything he owned in Joseph's charge, he gave no
thought, with Joseph there, to anything but the food he ate. Now
Joseph was strikingly handsome in countenance and body. After a
time, his master's wife began to look fondly at him and said,
"Lie with me." But he refused. "As long as I am
here," he told her, "my master does not concern himself
with anything in the house, but has entrusted to me all he owns.
He wields no more authority in this house than I do, and he has
withheld from me nothing but yourself, since you are his wife.
How, then, could I commit so great a wrong and thus stand
condemned before God?" Although she tried to entice him day
after day, he would not agree to lie beside her, or even stay near
her. One such day, when Joseph came into the house to do his work,
and none of the household servants were then in the house, she
laid hold of him by his cloak, saying, "Lie with me!"
But leaving the cloak in her hand, he got away from her and ran
outside. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand as he
fled outside, she screamed for her household servants and told
them, "Look! my husband has brought in a Hebrew slave to make
sport of us! He came in here to lie with me, but I cried out as
loud as I could. When he heard me scream for help, he left his
cloak beside me and ran away outside." [GEN 39:6-15]
So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put
their father and their wives and children on the wagons that
Pharaoh had sent for his transport. They took with them their
livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of
Canaan. Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt. His
sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters - all
his descendants - he took with him to Egypt. [GEN 46:5-7]
In Midian the LORD said to Moses, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead."
So Moses took his wife and his sons, and started back to the land of Egypt, with them riding the ass. The staff of God he carried with him.
[EX 4:19-20]
Now Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard of
all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel: how the
LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. So his father-in-law Jethro
took along Zipporah, Moses' wife, whom Moses had sent back to him,
and her two sons. One of these was called Gershom; for he said,
"I am a stranger in a foreign land." The other was
called Eliezer; for he said, "My father's God is my helper;
he has rescued me from Pharaoh's sword." Together with Moses'
wife and sons, then, his father-in-law Jethro came to him in the
desert where he was encamped near the mountain of God, and he sent
word to Moses, "I, Jethro, your father-in-law, am coming to
you, along with your wife and her two sons." [EX 18:1-6]
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not
covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his
ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him." [EX 20:17]
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
[EX 22:21-23]
Aaron replied, "Have your wives and sons and daughters take off the golden earrings they are wearing, and bring them to me."
So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron,
who accepted their offering, and fashioning this gold with a graving tool, made a molten calf.
[Taken from EX 32:2-4]
Neither shall you take their daughters as wives for your sons;
otherwise, when their daughters render their wanton worship to
their gods, they will make your sons do the same. [EX 34:16]
You shall not have intercourse with your father's wife, for
that would be a disgrace to your father. [LEV 18:8]
You shall not disgrace your father's brother by being intimate
with his wife, since she, too, is your aunt. [LEV 18:14]
While your wife is still living you shall not marry her sister
as her rival; for thus you would disgrace your first wife. [LEV
18:18]
You shall not have carnal relations with your neighbor's wife,
defiling yourself with her. [LEV 18:20]
If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the
adulterer and the adulteress shall [receive the prescribed
punishment]. [Taken from LEV 20:10] [Note: Under Mosaic law,
capital punishment was applied in such cases.]
The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and tell
them: If a man's wife goes astray and becomes unfaithful to him by
having intercourse with another man, though her husband has not
sufficient evidence of the fact, so that her impurity remains
unproved for lack of a witness who might have caught her in the
act; or if a man is overcome by a feeling of jealousy that makes
him suspect his wife, whether she was actually impure or not: he
shall bring his wife to the priest and shall take along as an
offering for her a tenth of an ephah of barley meal. However, he
shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense over it, since it is
a cereal offering of jealousy, a cereal offering for an appeal in
a question of guilt. The priest shall first have the woman
come forward and stand before the LORD. In an earthen vessel he
shall meanwhile put some holy water, as well as some dust that he
has taken from the floor of the Dwelling. Then, as the woman
stands before the LORD, the priest shall uncover her head and
place in her hands the cereal offering of her appeal, that is, the
cereal offering of jealousy, while he himself shall hold the
bitter water that brings a curse. Then he shall adjure the woman,
saying to her, 'If no other man has had intercourse with you, and
you have not gone astray by impurity while under the authority of
your husband, be immune to the curse brought by this bitter water.
But if you have gone astray while under the authority of your
husband and have acted impurely by letting a man other than your
husband have intercourse with you' - so shall the priest adjure
the woman with this oath of imprecation - 'may the LORD make you an
example of malediction and imprecation among your people by
causing your thighs to waste away and your belly to swell!'" [NUM 5:11-21]
At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries, and
even in the night the people wailed. All the Israelites grumbled
against Moses and Aaron, the whole community saying to them,
"Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that here in
the desert we were dead! Why is the LORD bringing us into this
land only to have us fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones
will be taken as booty. Would it not be better for us to return to
Egypt?" So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a
leader and go back to Egypt." But Moses and Aaron fell
prostrate before the whole assembled community of the Israelites;
while Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, who had
been in the party that scouted the land, tore their garments and
said to the whole community of the Israelites, "The country
which we went through and explored is a fine, rich land. If the
LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us in and give us that
land, a land flowing with milk and honey. But do not rebel against
the LORD! You need not be afraid of the people of that land; they
are but food for us! Their defense has left them, but the LORD is
with us. Therefore, do not be afraid of them." [NUM 14:1-9]
Moses, followed by the elders of Israel, arose and went to
Dathan and Abiram. Then he warned the community, "Keep away
from the tents of these wicked men and do not touch anything that
is theirs: otherwise you too will be swept away because of all
their sins." When Dathan and Abiram had come out and were
standing at the entrances of their tents with their wives and sons
and little ones, Moses said, "This is how you shall know that
it was the LORD who sent me to do all I have done, and that it was
not I who planned it: if these men die an ordinary death, merely
suffering the fate common to all mankind, then it was not the LORD
who sent me. But if the LORD does something entirely new, and the
ground opens its mouth and swallows them alive down into the
nether world, with all belonging to them, then you will know that
these men have defied the LORD." No sooner had he finished
saying all this than the ground beneath them split open, and the
earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their families (and
all of Korah's men) and all their possessions. They went down
alive to the nether world with all belonging to them; the earth
closed over them, and they perished from the community. [NUM 16:25-33]
These are the statutes which the LORD prescribed through Moses
concerning the relationship between a husband and his wife, as
well as between a father and his daughter while she is still a
maiden in her father's house. [NUM 30:17]
"At that time I charged them as follows: 'The LORD, your
God, has given you this land as your own. But all you troops
equipped for battle must cross over in the vanguard of your
brother Israelites. Only your wives and children, as well as your
livestock, of which I know you have a large number, shall remain
behind in the towns I have given you, until the LORD has settled
your kinsmen as well, and they too possess the land which the
LORD, your God, will give them on the other side of the Jordan.
Then you may all return to the possessions I have given you.'" [DEUT 3:18-20]
'You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not
desire your neighbor's house or field, nor his male or female
slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything that belongs to him.' [DEUT
5:21]
"If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or
your beloved wife, or your intimate friend, entices you secretly
to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known,
gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end
of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him,
nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him" [Taken from DEUT 13:7-9]
"When you have come into the land which the LORD, your
God, is giving you, and have occupied it and settled in it, should
you then decide to have a king over you like all the surrounding
nations, you shall set that man over you as your king whom the
LORD, your God, chooses. He whom you set over you as king must be
your kinsman; a foreigner, who is no kin of yours, you may not set
over you. But he shall not have a great number of horses; nor
shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire them,
against the LORD'S warning that you must never go back that way
again. Neither shall he have a great number of wives, lest his
heart be estranged, nor shall he accumulate a vast amount of
silver and gold. When he is enthroned in his kingdom, he shall
have a copy of this law made from the scroll that is in the
custody of the levitical priests. He shall keep it with him and
read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the
LORD, his God, and to heed and fulfill all the words of this law
and these statutes. Let him not become estranged from his
countrymen through pride, nor turn aside to the right or to the
left from these commandments. Then he and his descendants will
enjoy a long reign in Israel." [DEUT 17:14-20]
'Is there anyone who has betrothed a woman and not yet taken her
as his wife? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and
another take her to wife.' [DEUT 20:7]
"When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military
expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him. He shall
be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to
the wife he has married.' [DEUT 24:5]
"But if you do not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your
God, and are not careful to observe all his commandments which I
enjoin on you today, all these curses shall come upon you and
overwhelm you: May you be cursed in the city, and
cursed in the country! Cursed be your grain bin and your
kneading bowl! Cursed be the fruit of your womb, the
produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the
issue of your herds and the young of your flocks! May you be
cursed in your coming in, and cursed in your going out! The LORD will put a curse on you, defeat and frustration in
every enterprise you undertake, until you are speedily destroyed
and perish for the evil you have done in forsaking me. The LORD
will bring a pestilence upon you that will persist until he has
exterminated you from the land you are entering to occupy. The
LORD will strike you with wasting and fever, with scorching, fiery
drought, with blight and searing wind, that will plague you until
you perish. Though you betroth a wife, another man will have her.
Though you build a house, you will not live in it. Though you
plant a vineyard, you will not enjoy its fruits." [DEUT 28:15-22,30]
"You are all now standing before the LORD, your God - your
chiefs and judges, your elders and officials, and all of the men
of Israel, together with your wives and children and the aliens
who live in your camp, down to those who hew wood and draw water
for you - that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD, your
God, which he concluded with you today under this sanction of a
curse; so that he may now establish you as his people and he may
be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But it is not with you alone that I am
making this covenant, under this sanction of a curse; it is just
as much with those who are not here among us today as it is with
those of us who are now here present before the LORD, our God." [DEUT 29:9-14]
At this time the prophetess Deborah, wife of Lappidoth, was
judging Israel. [JUDG 4:4]
Instead Jael, wife of Heber, got a tent peg and took a mallet
in her hand. While Sisera was sound asleep, she stealthily
approached him and [caused his] death. [Taken from JUDG 4:21]
Now Gideon had seventy sons, his direct descendants, for he had
many wives. [JUDG 8:30]
There was a chieftain, the Gileadite Jephthah, born to Gilead of a harlot.
Gilead's wife had also borne him sons, and on growing up the sons of the wife had driven Jephthah away, saying to him, "You shall inherit nothing in our family, for you are the son of another woman."
[JUDG 11:1-2]
After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. He had thirty sons.
He also had thirty daughters married outside the family, and he
brought in as wives for his sons thirty young women from outside
the family. After having judged Israel for seven years, Ibzan died
and was buried in Bethlehem. [JUDG 12:8-10]
There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no
children. An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to
her, "Though you are barren and have had no children, yet you
will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to take no
wine or strong drink and to eat nothing unclean. As for the son
you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for
this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb. It is he who
will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the
Philistines." [JUDG 13:2-5]
Samson went down to Timnah and saw there one of the Philistine
women. On his return he told his father and mother, "There is
a Philistine woman I saw in Timnah whom I wish you to get as a
wife for me." His father and mother said to him, "Can
you find no wife among your kinsfolk or among all our people, that
you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised
Philistines?" But Samson answered his father, "Get her
for me, for she pleases me." Now his father and mother did
not know that this had been brought about by the LORD, who was
providing an opportunity against the Philistines; for at that time
they had dominion over Israel. [JUDG 14:1-4]
Samson said to them, "Let me propose a riddle to you. If
within the seven days of the feast you solve it for me
successfully, I will give you thirty linen tunics and thirty sets
of garments. But if you cannot answer it for me, you must give me
thirty tunics and thirty sets of garments." "Propose
your riddle," they responded; "we will listen to
it." ... After three days' failure to answer the riddle,
they said on the fourth day to Samson's wife, "Coax your
husband to answer the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your
family. Did you invite us here to reduce us to poverty?" At
Samson's side, his wife wept and said, "You must hate me; you
do not love me, for you have proposed a riddle to my countrymen,
but have not told me the answer." He said to her, "If I
have not told it even to my father or my mother, must I tell it to
you?" But she wept beside him during the seven days the feast
lasted. On the seventh day, since she importuned him, he told her
the answer, and she explained the riddle to her countrymen. [Taken from JUDG 14:12-17]
The Israelites were disconsolate over their brother Benjamin and said, "Today one of the tribes of Israel has been cut off.
What can we do about wives for the survivors, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?"
[JUDG 21:6-7]
When Benjamin returned at that time, they gave them as wives
the women of Jabesh-gilead whom they had spared; but these proved
to be not enough for them. The people were still disconsolate over
Benjamin because the LORD had made a breach among the tribes of
Israel. And the elders of the community said, "What shall we
do for wives for the survivors? For every woman in Benjamin has
been put to death." They said, "Those of Benjamin who
survive must have heirs, else one of the Israelite tribes will be
wiped out. Yet we cannot give them any of our daughters in
marriage, because the Israelites have sworn, 'Cursed be he who
gives a woman to Benjamin!'" [JUDG 21:14-18]
Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab.
The man was named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his sons Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. Some time after their arrival on the Moabite
plateau, Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two
sons [Taken from RUTH 1:1-3]
"I also take Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, as my wife,
in order to raise up a family for her late husband on his estate,
so that the name of the departed may not perish among his kinsmen
and fellow citizens. Do you witness this today?" All those at
the gate, including the elders, said, "We do so. May the LORD
make this wife come into your house like Rachel and Leah, who
between them built up the house of Israel. May you do well in
Ephrathah and win fame in Bethlehem. With the offspring the LORD
will give you from this girl, may your house become like the house
of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah." Boaz took Ruth. When
they came together as man and wife, the LORD enabled her to
conceive and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi,
"Blessed is the LORD who has not failed to provide you today
with an heir! May he become famous in Israel! He will be your
comfort and the support of your old age, for his mother is the
daughter-in-law who loves you. She is worth more to you than seven
sons!"
[RUTH 4:10-15]
There was a certain man from Rama-thaim, Elkanah by name, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an
Ephraimite. He had two wives, one named Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.
[1SAM 1:1-2]
As she remained long at prayer before the LORD, Eli watched her
mouth, for Hannah was praying silently; though her lips were
moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli, thinking her drunk,
said to her, "How long will you make a drunken show of
yourself? Sober up from your wine!" "It isn't that, my
lord," Hannah answered. "I am an unhappy woman. I have
had neither wine nor liquor; I was only pouring out my troubles to
the LORD. Do not think your handmaid a ne'er-do-well; my prayer
has been prompted by my deep sorrow and misery." Eli said,
"Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you
have asked of him." She replied, "Think kindly of your
maidservant," and left. She went to her quarters, ate and
drank with her husband, and no longer appeared downcast. Early the
next morning they worshiped before the LORD, and then
returned to their home in Ramah. When Elkanah had relations
with his wife Hannah, the LORD remembered her. She conceived, and
at the end of her term bore a son whom she called Samuel, since
she had asked the LORD for him. [1SAM 1:12-20]
"Speak boastfully no longer, nor let arrogance issue
from your mouths. For an all-knowing God is the LORD, a
God who judges deeds. The bows of the mighty are
broken, while the tottering gird on strength. he well-fed
hire themselves out for bread, while the hungry batten on
spoil. The barren wife bears seven sons, while the
mother of many languishes." [1SAM 2:3-5]
Meanwhile the boy Samuel, girt with a linen apron, was serving
in the presence of the LORD. His mother used to make a little
garment for him, which she would bring him each time she went up
with her husband to offer the customary sacrifice. And Eli would
bless Elkanah and his wife, as they were leaving for home. He
would say, "May the LORD repay you with children from this
woman for the gift she has made to the LORD!" The LORD
favored Hannah so that she conceived and gave birth to three more
sons and two daughters, while young Samuel grew up in the service
of the LORD. [1SAM 2:18-21]
At this mention of the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his chair into the gateway; since he was an old man and heavy, he died of a broken neck. He had judged Israel for forty years. His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child and at the point of giving birth. When she heard the news concerning the capture of the ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she was seized with the pangs of labor, and gave birth.
[1SAM 4:18-19]
The same night, Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard it, that he might kill him in the morning. David's wife Michal informed him, "Unless you save yourself tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."
Then Michal let David down through a window, and he made his escape in safety.
[1SAM 19:11-12]
There was a man of Maon who had property in Carmel; he was very wealthy, owning three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At this time he was present for the shearing of his flock in Carmel.
The man was named Nabal, his wife, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and attractive, but Nabal himself, a Calebite, was harsh and ungenerous in his behavior.
[1SAM 25:2-3]
When Abigail came to Nabal, there was a drinking party in his
house like that of a king, and Nabal was merry because he was very
drunk. So she told him nothing at all before daybreak the next
morning. But then, when Nabal had become sober, his wife told him
what had happened. At this his courage died within him, and he
became like a stone. About ten days later the LORD struck him and
he died. On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said: "Blessed
be the LORD, who has requited the insult I received at the hand of
Nabal, and who restrained his servant from doing evil, but has
punished Nabal for his own evil deeds." David then sent a
proposal of marriage to Abigail. When David's servants came to
Abigail in Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to
you that he may take you as his wife." Rising and bowing to
the ground, she answered, "Your handmaid would become a slave
to wash the feet of my lord's servants." She got up
immediately, mounted an ass, and followed David's messengers, with
her five maids following in attendance upon her. She became his
wife, and David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Thus both of them
were his wives; but Saul gave David's wife Michal, Saul's own
daughter, to Palti, son of Laish, who was from Gallim. [1SAM 25:36-43]
Before David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day, the
Amalekites had raided the Negeb and Ziklag, had stormed the city,
and had set it on fire. They had taken captive the women and all
who were in the city, young and old, killing no one; they had
carried them off when they left. David and his men arrived at the
city to find it burned to the ground and their wives, sons and
daughters taken captive. Then David and those who were with him
wept aloud until they could weep no more. David's two wives,
Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel,
had also been carried off with the rest. Now David found himself
in great difficulty, for the men spoke of stoning him, so bitter
were they over the fate of their sons and daughters. But with
renewed trust in the LORD his God, David said to Abiathar, the
priest, son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod!" When
Abiathar brought him the ephod, David inquired of the LORD,
"Shall I pursue these raiders? Can I overtake them?" The
LORD answered him, "Go in pursuit, for you shall surely
overtake them and effect a rescue." [1SAM 30:1-8]
David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives.
Nothing was missing, small or great, booty or sons or daughters, of all that the Amalekites had taken. David brought back everything.
[1SAM 30:18-19]
David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem after he had
come from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to him in
Jerusalem. These are the names of those who were born to him in
Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua,
Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Baaliada, and Eliphelet.
[2SAM 5:13-16]
One evening David rose from his siesta and strolled about on
the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who
was very beautiful. David had inquiries made about the woman and
was told, "She is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, and wife of (Joab's
armor-bearer) Uriah the Hittite." Then David sent messengers
and took her. When she came to him, he had relations with her...
She then returned to her house. But the woman had conceived, and
sent the information to David, "I am with child." [Taken from 2SAM 11:2-5]
When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband had died, she
mourned her lord. But once the mourning was over, David sent for her and brought
her into his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But
the LORD was displeased with what David had done. [2SAM 11:26-27]
Then Nathan said to David: "You are the man! Thus says the
LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king of Israel. I rescued you
from the hand of Saul. I gave you your lord's house and your
lord's wives for your own. I gave you the house of Israel and of
Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still
more. Why have you spurned the LORD and done evil in his sight?
You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his
wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the
Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your
house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of
Uriah to be your wife.' Thus says the LORD: 'I will bring evil
upon you out of your own house. I will take your wives while you
live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor. He shall lie
with your wives in broad daylight. You have done this deed in
secret, but I will bring it about in the presence of all Israel,
and with the sun looking down.'" Then David said to Nathan,
"I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan answered David:
"The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not
die. But since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed, the
child born to you must surely die." Then Nathan returned to
his house. The LORD struck the child that the wife of Uriah had
borne to David, and it became desperately ill. [2SAM 12:7-15]
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went and slept with her; and she conceived and bore him a son, who was named Solomon. The LORD loved him
and sent the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah, on behalf of the LORD.
[2SAM 12:24-25]
When Solomon was seated on the throne of his father David, with
his sovereignty firmly established, Adonijah, son of Haggith, went
to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. "Do you come as a
friend?" she asked. "Yes," he answered, and added,
"I have something to say to you." She replied, "Say
it." So he said: "You know that the kingdom was mine,
and all Israel expected me to be king. But the kingdom escaped me
and became my brother's, for the LORD gave it to him. But now
there is one favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me." And
she said, "Speak on." He said, "Please ask King
Solomon, who will not refuse you, to give me Abishag the Shunamite
for my wife." "Very well," replied Bathsheba,
"I will speak to the king for you." Then Bathsheba went
to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood
up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his
throne, and a throne was provided for the king's mother, who sat
at his right. "There is one small favor I would ask of
you," she said. "Do not refuse me." "Ask it,
my mother," the king said to her, "for I will not refuse
you." So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunamite be given
to your brother Adonijah for his wife." [1KGS 2:12-21]
King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of
Pharaoh (Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites),
from nations with which the LORD had forbidden the Israelites to
intermarry, "because," he said, "they will turn
your hearts to their gods." But Solomon fell in love with
them. He had seven hundred wives of princely rank and three
hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart. When Solomon
was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his
heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the heart of his
father David had been. By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the
Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites, Solomon did evil
in the sight of the LORD; he did not follow him unreservedly as
his father David had done. The LORD, therefore, became angry with
Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God
of Israel, who had appeared to him twice [Take from 1KGS 11:1-6,9]
Hadad won great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave him in
marriage the sister of Queen Tahpenes, his own wife. [1KGS 11:19]
At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, took sick. So Jeroboam
said to his wife, "Get ready and disguise yourself so that
none will recognize you as Jeroboam's wife. Then go to Shiloh,
where you will find the prophet Ahijah. It was he who predicted my
reign over this people. Take along ten loaves, some cakes, and a
jar of preserves, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen
to the child." The wife of Jeroboam obeyed. She made the
journey to Shiloh and entered the house of Ahijah who could not
see because age had dimmed his sight. The LORD had said to Ahijah:
"Jeroboam's wife is coming to consult you about her son, for
he is sick. This is what you must tell her. When she comes, she
will be in disguise." So Ahijah, hearing the sound of her
footsteps as she entered the door, said, "Come in, wife of
Jeroboam. Why are you in disguise? I have been commissioned to
give you bitter news." [1KGS 14:1-6]
Ahab went home disturbed and angry at the answer Naboth the
Jezreelite had made to him: "I will not give you my ancestral
heritage." Lying down on his bed, he turned away from food
and would not eat. His wife Jezebel came to him and said to him,
"Why are you so angry that you will not eat?" He
answered her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and
said to him, 'Sell me your vineyard, or, if you prefer, I will
give you a vineyard in exchange.' But he refused to let me have
his vineyard." "A fine ruler over Israel you are
indeed!" his wife Jezebel said to him. "Get up. Eat and
be cheerful. I will obtain the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite
for you." So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and, having
sealed them with his seal, sent them to the elders and to the
nobles who lived in the same city with Naboth. This is what she
wrote in the letters: "Proclaim a fast and set Naboth at the
head of the people. Next, get two scoundrels to face him and
accuse him of having cursed God and king. Then take him out and
stone him to death." His fellow citizens - the elders and the
nobles who dwelt in his city - did as Jezebel had ordered them in
writing, through the letters she had sent them... Indeed, no one
gave himself up to the doing of evil in the sight of the LORD as
did Ahab, urged on by his wife Jezebel. He became completely
abominable by following idols, just as the Amorites had done, whom
the LORD drove out before the Israelites. [1KGS 21:4-11,25-26]
In the fifth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel,
Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king. He was
thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight
years in Jerusalem. He conducted himself like the kings of Israel
of the line of Ahab, since the sister of Ahab was his wife; and he
did evil in the LORD'S sight. Even so, the LORD was unwilling to
destroy Judah, because of his servant David. For he had promised
David that he would leave him a lamp in the LORD'S presence for
all time. [2KGS 8:16-19]
The sons of Uzzi: Izarahiah. The sons of Izarahiah were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah. All five of these were chiefs.
Their kindred, by ancestral houses, numbered thirty-six thousand men in organized military troops, since they had more wives and sons
than their fellow tribesmen. In all the clans of Issachar there was a total of eighty-seven thousand warriors in their family records.
[1CHRON 7:3-5]
David now understood that the LORD had truly confirmed him as king over Israel, for his kingdom was greatly exalted for the sake of his people Israel.
David took other wives in Jerusalem and became the father of more sons and daughters.
[1CHRON 14:2-3]
Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of
David to the palace which he had built for her, for he said,
"No wife of mine shall dwell in the house of David, king of
Israel, for the places where the ark of the LORD has come are
holy." [2CHRON 8:11]
Rehoboam took to himself as wife Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth,
son of David and of Abihail, daughter of Eliab, son of Jesse. She
bore him sons: Jehush, Shemariah and Zaham. After her, he married
Maacah, daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and
Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maacah, daughter of Absalom, more than
all his other wives and concubines; he had taken eighteen wives
and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty
daughters. Rehoboam constituted Abijah, son of Maacah, commander
among his brothers, for he intended to make him king. He acted
prudently, distributing various of his sons throughout all the
districts of Judah and Benjamin, in all the fortified cities; and
he furnished them with copious provisions and sought an abundance
of wives for them. After Rehoboam had consolidated his rule and
had become powerful, he abandoned the law of the LORD, he and all
Israel with him. [2CHRON 11:18-23, 12:1]
All Judah was standing before the LORD, with their little ones,
their wives, and their young sons. And the spirit of the LORD came
upon Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son
of Mattaniah, a Levite of the clan of Asaph, in the midst of the
assembly, and he said: "Listen, all of Judah, inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! The LORD says to you: 'Do not
fear or lose heart at the sight of this vast multitude, for the
battle is not yours but God's. Go down against them tomorrow. You
will see them coming up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will come
upon them at the end of the wadi which opens on the wilderness of
Jeruel. You will not have to fight in this encounter. Take your
places, stand firm, and see how the LORD will be with you to
deliver you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or lose heart.
Tomorrow go out to meet them, and the LORD will be with
you.'" Then Jehoshaphat knelt down with his face to the
ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down
before the LORD in worship. Levites from among the Kohathites and
Korahites rose to sing the praises of the LORD, the God of Israel,
in a resounding chorus. [2CHRON 20:13-19]
He received a letter from the prophet Elijah with this message:
"Thus says the LORD, the God of your ancestor David: 'Because
you have not followed the path of your father Jehoshaphat, nor of
Asa, king of Judah, but instead have walked in the way of the
kings of Israel and have led Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem into idolatry, as did the house of Ahab, and also
because you have murdered your brothers of your father's house who
were better than you, the LORD will strike your people, your
children, your wives, and all that is yours with a great plague;
and you shall have severe pains from a disease in your bowels,
while your bowels issue forth because of the disease, day after
day.'" Then the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the animosity
of the Philistines and of the Arabs who bordered on the
Ethiopians. They came up against Judah, invaded it, and carried
away all the wealth found in the king's palace, along with his
sons and his wives; there was left to him only one son, Jehoahaz,
his youngest. After these events, the LORD afflicted him with an
incurable disease of the bowels. [2CHRON 21:12-18]
When Athaliah, mother of Ahaziah, learned that her son was
dead, she proceeded to kill off all the royal offspring of the
house of Judah. But Jehosheba, a royal princess, secretly took
Ahaziah's son Joash from among the king's sons who were about to
be slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. In this way
Jehosheba, who was the daughter of King Jehoram, a sister of
Ahaziah, and wife of Jehoiada the priest, hid the child from
Athaliah's sight, so that she did not put him to death. For six
years he remained hidden with them in the house of God, while
Athaliah ruled over the land. [2CHRON 22:10-12]
The Israelites took away as captives two hundred thousand of
their brethren's wives, sons and daughters; they also took from
them much plunder, which they brought to Samaria. [2CHRON 28:8]
Therefore the anger of the LORD has come upon Judah and
Jerusalem; he has made them an object of terror, astonishment and
mockery, as you see with your own eyes. For our fathers, as you
know, fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters and our wives
have been taken captive because of this. Now, I intend to make a
covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, that his burning anger
may withdraw from us. [2CHRON 29:8-10]
There was also a register by ancestral houses of males thirty
years of age and over, for all priests who were eligible to enter
the house of the LORD according to the daily rule to fulfill their
service in the order of their classes. The priests were inscribed
in their family records according to their ancestral houses, and
the Levites of twenty years and over according to their various
offices and classes. A distribution was also made to all who were
inscribed in the family records, for their little ones, wives,
sons and daughters - thus for the entire assembly, since they were
to sanctify themselves by sharing faithfully in the consecrated
things. The sons of Aaron, the priests who lived on the lands
attached to their cities, had in every city men designated by name
to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to
every Levite listed in the family records. This Hezekiah did in
all Judah. He did what was good, upright and faithful before the
LORD, his God. Everything that he undertook, for the service of
the house of God or for the law and the commandments, was to do
the will of his God. He did this wholeheartedly, and he prospered.
[2CHRON 31:16-21]
Then Shaphan the scribe announced to the king, "Hilkiah
the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it
before the king. When the king heard the words of the law, he tore
his garments and issued this command to Hilkiah, to Ahikam, son of
Shaphan, to Abdon, son of Michah, to Shaphan the scribe, and to
Asaiah, the king's servant: "On behalf of myself and those
who are left in Israel and Judah, go, consult the LORD concerning
the words of the book that has been found. For the anger of the
LORD has been set furiously ablaze against us, since our fathers
have not kept the word of the LORD and have not done all that is
written in this book." Then Hilkiah and the other men from
the king went to the prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum, son
of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, the guardian of the wardrobe; she dwelt
in Jerusalem, in the new quarter. They spoke to her as they had
been instructed, and she said to them: "Thus says the LORD,
the God of Israel: 'Tell the one who sent you to me, The LORD
says: I am prepared to bring evil upon this place and upon its
inhabitants, all the curses written in the book that has been read
before the king of Judah. Because they have abandoned me and have
offered incense to other gods, provoking me by every deed that
they have performed, my anger is ablaze against this place and
cannot be extinguished.' "But to the king of Judah who sent
you to consult the LORD, give this response: 'Thus says the LORD,
the God of Israel, concerning the threats you have heard: Because
you were heartsick and have humbled yourself before God on hearing
his words spoken against this place and its inhabitants; because
you have humbled yourself before me, have torn your garments, and
have wept before me, I in turn have listened - so declares the
LORD. I will gather you to your ancestors and you shall be taken
to your grave in peace. Your eyes shall not see all the evil I
will bring upon this place and upon its inhabitants.'" They
brought back this message to the king. [2CHRON 34:18-28]
When these matters had been concluded, the leaders approached me with this report: "Neither the Israelite laymen nor the priests nor the Levites have kept themselves aloof from the peoples of the land and their abominations (Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites);
for they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and thus they have desecrated the holy race with the peoples of the land. Furthermore, the leaders and rulers have taken a leading part in this apostasy!"
[EZRA 9:1-2]
While Ezra prayed and acknowledged their guilt, weeping and
prostrate before the house of God, a very large assembly of
Israelites gathered about him, men, women, and children; and the
people wept profusely. Then Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, one of
the sons of Elam, made this appeal to Ezra: "We have indeed
betrayed our God by taking as wives foreign women of the peoples
of the land. Yet even now there remains a hope for Israel. Let us
therefore enter into a covenant before our God to dismiss all our
foreign wives and the children born of them, in keeping with what
you, my lord, advise, and those who fear the commandments of our
God. Let the law be observed! Rise, then, for this is your duty!
We will stand by you, so have courage and take action!" Ezra
rose to his feet and demanded an oath from the chiefs of the
priests, from the Levites and from all Israel that they would do
as had been proposed; and they swore it. Then Ezra retired from
his place before the house of God and entered the chamber of
Johanan, son of Eliashib, where he spent the night neither eating
food nor drinking water, for he was in mourning over the betrayal
by the exiles. A proclamation was made throughout Judah and
Jerusalem that all the exiles should gather together in Jerusalem,
and that whoever failed to appear within three days would,
according to the judgment of the leaders and elders, suffer the
confiscation of all his possessions, and himself be excluded from
the assembly of the exiles. All the men of Judah and Benjamin
gathered together in Jerusalem within the three-day period: it was
in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. All the
people, standing in the open place before the house of God, were
trembling both over the matter at hand and because it was raining.
Then Ezra, the priest, stood up and said to them: "Your
unfaithfulness in taking foreign women as wives has added to
Israel's guilt. But now, give praise to the LORD, the God of your
fathers, and do his will: separate yourselves from the peoples of
the land and from these foreign women." In answer, the whole
assembly cried out with a loud voice: "Yes, it is our duty to
do as you say! But the people are numerous and it is the rainy
season, so that we cannot remain out-of-doors; besides, this is
not a task that can be performed in a single day or even two, for
those of us who have sinned in this regard are many. Let our
leaders represent the whole assembly; then let all those in our
cities who have taken foreign women for wives appear at appointed
times, accompanied by the elders and magistrates of each city in
question, till we have turned away from us our God's burning anger
over this affair." Only Jonathan, son of Asahel, and Jahzeiah,
son of Tikvah, were against this proposal, with Meshullam and
Shabbethai the Levite supporting them. The exiles did as agreed.
Ezra appointed as his assistants men who were family heads, one
for each family, all of them designated by name. They held
sessions to examine the matter, beginning with the first day of
the tenth month. By the first day of the first month they had
passed judgment on all the men who had taken foreign women for
wives. [EZRA 10:1-17]
All these had taken foreign wives; but they sent them away,
both the women and their children. [EZRA 10:44]
When the Jews who lived near them had come to us from one place
after another, and had told us ten times over that they were about
to attack us, I stationed guards down below, behind the wall, near
the exposed points, assigning them by family groups with their
swords, their spears, and their bows. I made an inspection, then
addressed these words to the nobles, the magistrates, and the rest
of the people: "Have no fear of them! Keep in mind the LORD,
who is great and to be feared, and fight for your brethren, your
sons and daughters, your wives and your homes." When our
enemies became aware that we had been warned and that God had
upset their plan, we all went back, each to his own task at the
wall. [NEH 4:6-9]
Then there rose a great outcry of the common people and their
wives against certain of their fellow Jews. Some said: "We
are forced to pawn our sons and daughters in order to get grain to
eat that we may live." Others said: "We are forced to
pawn our fields, our vineyards, and our houses, that we may have
grain during the famine." Still others said: "To pay the
king's tax we have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards.
And though these are our own kinsmen and our children are as good
as theirs, we have had to reduce our sons and daughters to
slavery, and violence has been done to some of our daughters! Yet
we can do nothing about it, for our fields and our vineyards
belong to others." [NEH 5:1-5]
The rest of the people, priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers,
temple slaves, and all others who have separated themselves from
the peoples of the lands in favor of the law of God, with their
wives, their sons, their daughters, all who are of the age of
discretion, join with their brethren who are their princes, and
with the sanction of a curse take this oath to follow the law of
God which was given through Moses, the servant of God, and to
observe carefully all the commandments of the LORD, our LORD, his
ordinances and his statutes. Agreed, that we will not marry our
daughters to the peoples of the land, and that we will not take
their daughters for our sons. When the peoples of the land bring
in merchandise or any kind of grain for sale on the sabbath day,
we will not buy from them on the sabbath or on any other holyday.
We will forgo the seventh year, as well as every kind of debt. [NEH 10:29-32]
Also in those days I saw Jews who had married Ashdodite,
Ammonite, or Moabite wives. Of their children, half spoke
Ashdodite, and none of them knew how to speak Jewish; and so it
was in regard to the languages of the various other peoples. I
took them to task and cursed them; I had some of them beaten and
their hair pulled out; and I adjured them by God: "You shall
not marry your daughters to their sons nor take any of their
daughters for your sons or for yourselves! Did not Solomon, the
king of Israel, sin because of them? Though among the many nations
there was no king like him, and though he was beloved of his God
and God had made him king over all Israel, yet even he was made to
sin by foreign women. Must it also be heard of you that you have
done this same very great evil, betraying our God by marrying
foreign women?" One of the sons of Joiada, son of Eliashib
the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite! I
drove him from my presence. Remember against them, O my God, how
they defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and
the Levites! Thus I cleansed them of all foreign contamination. I
established the various functions for the priests and Levites, so
that each had his appointed task. I also provided for the
procurement of wood at stated times and for the first fruits.
Remember this in my favor, O my God! [NEH 13:23-31]
But a certain citizen of Nineveh informed the king that it was I who buried the dead. When I found out that the king knew all about me and wanted to put me to death, I went into hiding; then in my fear I took to flight.
Afterward, all my property was confiscated; I was left with nothing. All that I had was taken to the king's palace, except for my wife Anna and my son
Tobiah. [TOBIT 1:19-20]
Thus under King Esarhaddon I returned to my home, and my wife
Anna and my son Tobiah were restored to me. Then on our festival
of Pentecost, the feast of Weeks, a fine dinner was prepared for
me, and I reclined to eat. [TOBIT 2:1]
That same night I bathed, and went to sleep next to the wall of my courtyard. Because of the heat I left my face uncovered. I did not know there were birds perched on the wall above me, till their warm droppings settled in my eyes, causing cataracts. I went to see some doctors for a cure, but the more they anointed my eyes with various salves, the worse the cataracts became, until I could see no more. For four years I was deprived of eyesight, and all my kinsmen were grieved at my condition. Ahiqar, however, took care of me for two years, until he left for
Elymais. At that time my wife Anna worked for hire at weaving cloth
[Taken from TOBIT 2:9-11]
On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it so happened that Raguel's daughter Sarah also had to listen to abuse, from one of her father's maids.
For she had been married to seven husbands, but the wicked demon Asmodeus killed them off before they could have intercourse with her, as it is prescribed for wives. So the maid said to her: "You are the one who strangles your husbands! Look at you! You have already been married seven times, but you have had no joy with any one of your husbands."
[TOBIT 3:7-8]
"Be on your guard, son, against every form of immorality, and above all, marry a woman of the lineage of your forefathers. Do not marry a stranger who is not of your father's tribe, because we are sons of the prophets. My boy, keep in mind Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers from of old: all of them took wives from among their own kinsmen and were blessed in their children. Remember that their posterity shall inherit the land.
Therefore, my son, love your kinsmen. Do not be so proudhearted toward your kinsmen, the sons and daughters of your people, as to refuse to take a wife for yourself from among them. For in such arrogance there is ruin and great disorder. Likewise, in worthlessness there is decay and dire poverty, for worthlessness is the mother of famine."
[TOBIT 4:12-13]
Raphael said to the boy, "Brother Tobiah!" He
answered, "Yes, what is it?" Raphael continued:
"Tonight we must stay with Raguel, who is a relative of
yours. He has a daughter named Sarah, but no other child. Since
you are Sarah's closest relative, you before all other men have
the right to marry her. Also, her father's estate is rightfully
yours to inherit. Now the girl is sensible, courageous, and very
beautiful; and her father loves her dearly." He continued:
"Since you have the right to marry her, listen to me,
brother. Tonight I will ask the girl's father to let us have her
as your bride. When we return from Rages, we will hold the wedding
feast for her. I know that Raguel cannot keep her from you or let
her become engaged to another man; that would be a capital crime
according to the decree in the Book of Moses, and he knows that it
is your right, before all other men, to marry his daughter. So
heed my words, brother; tonight we must speak for the girl, so
that we may have her engaged to you. And when we return from
Rages, we will take her and bring her back with us to your
house." Tobiah objected, however: "Brother Azariah, I
have heard that this woman has already been married seven times,
and that her husbands died in their bridal chambers. On the very
night they approached her, they dropped dead. And I have heard it
said that it was a demon who killed them. So now I too am afraid
of this demon. Because he loves her, he does not harm her; but he
does slay any man who wishes to come close to her. I am my
father's only child. If I should die, I would bring my father and
mother down to their grave in sorrow over me. And they have no
other son to bury them!" Raphael said to him: "Do you
not remember your father's orders? He commanded you to marry a
woman from your own family. So now listen to me, brother; do not
give another thought to this demon, but marry Sarah. I know that
tonight you shall have her for your wife!" [TOBIT 6:11-16]
Raguel overheard the words; so he said to the boy: "Eat
and drink and be merry tonight, for no man is more entitled to
marry my daughter Sarah than you, brother. Besides, not even I
have the right to give her to anyone but you, because you are my
closest relative. But I will explain the situation to you very
frankly. I have given her in marriage to seven men, all of whom
were kinsmen of ours, and all died on the very night they
approached her. But now, son, eat and drink. I am sure the Lord
will look after you both." Tobiah answered, "I will eat
or drink nothing until you set aside what belongs to me."
Raguel said to him: "I will do it. She is yours according to
the decree of the Book of Moses. Your marriage to her has been
decided in heaven! Take your kinswoman; from now on you are her
love, and she is your beloved. She is yours today and ever after.
And tonight, son, may the Lord of heaven prosper you both. May he
grant you mercy and peace." Then Raguel called his daughter
Sarah, and she came to him. He took her by the hand and gave her
to Tobiah with the words: "Take her according to the law.
According to the decree written in the Book of Moses she is your
wife. Take her and bring her back safely to your father. And may
the God of heaven grant both of you peace and prosperity." He
then called her mother and told her to bring a scroll, so that he
might draw up a marriage contract stating that he gave Sarah to
Tobiah as his wife according to the decree of the Mosaic law. Her
mother brought the scroll, and he drew up the contract, to which
they affixed their seals. Afterward they began to eat and drink.
Later Raguel called his wife Edna and said, "My love, prepare
the other bedroom and bring the girl there." She went and
made the bed in the room, as she was told, and brought the girl
there. After she had cried over her, she wiped away the tears and
said: "Be brave, my daughter. May the Lord of heaven grant
you joy in place of your grief. Courage, my daughter." Then
she left. [TOBIT 7:10-17]
When the girl's parents left the bedroom and closed the door
behind them, Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife, "My
love, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and
to grant us deliverance." She got up, and they started to
pray and beg that deliverance might be theirs. He began with these
words: "Blessed are you, O God of our fathers; praised
be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens and all your
creation praise you forever. You made Adam and you gave him
his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two
the human race descended. You said, 'It is not good for the man to
be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.' Now, Lord,
you know that I take this wife of mine not because of
lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on
me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old
age." They said together, "Amen, amen" [Taken from
TOBIT 8:4-8]
"Take, to begin with, half of whatever I own when you go back in
good health to your father; the other half will be yours when I
and my wife die. Be of good cheer, my son! I am your father, and
Edna is your mother; and we belong to you and to your beloved now
and forever. So be happy, son!" [TOBIT 8:21]
Before them all Tobit proclaimed how God had mercifully
restored sight to his eyes. When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of
his son Tobiah, he greeted her: "Welcome, my daughter!
Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter! Blessed are
your father and your mother. Blessed is my son Tobiah, and blessed
are you, daughter! Welcome to your home with blessing and joy.
Come in, daughter!" That day there was joy for all the Jews
who lived in Nineveh. [TOBIT 11:17]
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