How many times is wife mentioned in the Bible?
The word wife appears 396 times in the King James Version, in 360 verses. Counting every form (wife, wives, wife's), it appears 540 times in 480 verses across 41 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses wife 397 times (536 with every form).
Wife in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of wife counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| wife | 396 | 397 |
| wives | 133 | 125 |
| wife's | 11 | 14 |
| Total | 540 | 536 |
Which books mention wife most
Wife appears in 41 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Genesis has the most (127), then Judges (35) and Deuteronomy (30).
Also in: Mark (12), Ezra (11), Ephesians (9), Ezekiel (8), Ruth (7), Nehemiah (7), 2 Kings (6), Acts (6), Esther (5), Proverbs (5), Zechariah (5), 1 Timothy (5), Daniel (4), Hosea (4), Joshua (3), Job (3), Isaiah (3), Malachi (3), 1 Peter (3), Psalms (2), Colossians (2), Revelation (2), Ecclesiastes (1), Amos (1), John (1), Titus (1).
First and last mention of wife
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
The verse that uses it most is Genesis 11:29, 3 times (tied with 1 Corinthians 7:27):
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.
Where the two translations differ
15 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 10 verses match only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
Exodus 19:15: counted in the KJV only
And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”
Leviticus 21:7: counted in the KJV only
They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
“‘They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute, or profane. They shall not marry a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God.
1 Chronicles 2:21: counted in the World English Bible only
And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was threescore years old; and she bare him Segub.
Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he took as wife when he was sixty years old; and she bore him Segub.
1 Chronicles 23:22: counted in the World English Bible only
And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters: and their brethren the sons of Kish took them.
Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters only: and their brothers the sons of Kish took them as wives.
Verses with wife on our topic pages
59 verses that use wife in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
On: Marriage, Family, Divorce, Relationships
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;
On: Love, Marriage, Relationships, Church
The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;
On: Divorce, Leadership, Hospitality, Modesty
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
On: Jealousy, Lust, What Does the Bible Say About Gambling? 25 Verses
Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
On: Marriage, What Does the Bible Say About Sex Before Marriage? 26 Verses, What Does the Bible Say About Adultery? 28 Verses
But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word;
Your wife will be as a fruitful vine, in the innermost parts of your house; your children like olive plants, around your table.
House and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from Yahweh.
On: Marriage, Relationships
“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
On: Divorce, What Does the Bible Say About Adultery? 28 Verses
but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
On: Divorce, What Does the Bible Say About Adultery? 28 Verses
I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”
On: Divorce, What Does the Bible Say About Adultery? 28 Verses
Common questions
How many times is wife in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 439 of the 540 uses are in the Old Testament and 101 in the New Testament. Wife appears in 41 books of the 66 in the King James Version. Genesis has the most (127), then Judges (35) and Deuteronomy (30).
Where is wife first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is Genesis 2:24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." The last is Revelation 21:9.
More word counts: wicked, mountain, tree, vine, eagle, horse, camel, fish, or all 253 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 2026-10-05.