How many times is marriage mentioned in the Bible?
The word marriage appears 19 times in the King James Version, in 18 verses. Counting every form (marriage, marry, married, marrieth, marrying), it appears 77 times in 62 verses across 22 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses marriage 21 times (84 with every form).
Marriage in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of marriage counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| marriage | 19 | 21 |
| marry | 22 | 19 |
| married | 30 | 42 |
| marrieth | 4 | 0 |
| marrying | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 77 | 84 |
Which books mention marriage most
Marriage appears in 22 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Matthew has the most (14), then 1 Corinthians (11) and Luke (9).
Also in: 1 Chronicles (1), 2 Chronicles (1), Psalms (1), Proverbs (1), Jeremiah (1), Malachi (1), Hebrews (1).
First and last mention of marriage
And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
The verse that uses it most is Numbers 12:1, 2 times (tied with Numbers 36:6, Isaiah 62:5, Matthew 19:9, Matthew 22:30, Matthew 24:38 and 9 more):
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
Where the two translations differ
14 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 25 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Genesis 38:8: counted in the KJV only
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.”
Exodus 21:10: counted in the KJV only
If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.
Genesis 11:29: counted in the World English Bible only
And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran who was also the father of Iscah.
Exodus 21:8: counted in the World English Bible only
If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
If she doesn’t please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
Verses with marriage on our topic pages
6 verses that use marriage in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven.
On: Angels
The third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there.
On: Alcohol
Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the marriage.
On: Alcohol
But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord—that the wife not leave her husband
On: Divorce
He said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” He said to me, “These are true words of God.”
On: Communion
Common questions
How many times is marriage in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 27 of the 77 uses are in the Old Testament and 50 in the New Testament. Marriage appears in 22 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Matthew has the most (14), then 1 Corinthians (11) and Luke (9).
Where is marriage first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 19:14: "And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law." The last is Revelation 19:9.
Read the full collection: Bible Verses About Marriage (50 Verses).
More word counts: divorce, healing, strength, courage, pride, humility, sheep, lamb, or all 107 words.
Counted by Bible Says About from the full public-domain text of the King James Version (1769 edition) and the World English Bible. Verse text only: headings and psalm titles are left out. A word is a run of letters: a hyphenated name like Beer-sheba counts as two, and an apostrophe stays inside its word (LORD'S is one). Matching ignores capital letters. Data compiled 2026-10-02.