正文
Women in the Bible
I will ... that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.--1 Tim.2:8-9
The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of woman's emancipation. -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible
Genesis
God fashions a woman out of one of Adam's ribs. This was necessary since Adam couldn't find a "help meet" in any of the animals that God made for him. 2:20-22
Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. 3:12-13
God punishes Eve, and all women after her, with the pains of childbirth and subjection to men. 3:16
Adam is also punished, although less severely. He now will have to work for a living because he "hearkened unto the voice" of his wife. 3:17
Lamech is the first of a long line of biblical men with more than one wife. It seems that God approves of such marriages. 4:19, 23
Finally, sometime in the next 800 years, Adam begat some daughters. These nameless ones are the first (and nearly the last) girls to be born in the Bible. 5:4
"The male and his female ..." Notice that in the Bible female animals are the property of male animals, as women are the property of men. 7:2
Abram makes his wife lie for him, by telling the Egyptians that she is his sister. But at least it was half-true, since she was his half-sister. Such incestuous marriages are condemned elsewhere in the Bible, but god makes an exception for Abram and Sarai. (See Gen.17:15-16 where God blesses their marriage.) 12:13
Sarai is the first of a long line of barren women who were desperate for children. (In the Bible, it is the women who are barren, never the men.) She sends Abram into her handmaid, Hagar, so that she can "obtain children by her." Abram gladly complies. 16:1-4
Sarah, who is about 90 years old and has gone through menopause, laughs at God when he tells her that she will have a son. She asks God if she will "have pleasure" with her "Lord" [Abraham], when both are so very old. God assures her that he will return and impregnate her at the appointed time. 18:11-14
Lot refuses to give up his angels to the perverted mob, offering his two "virgin daughters" instead. He tells the bunch of angel rapers to "do unto them [his daughters] as is good in your eyes." This is the same man that is called "just" and "righteous" in 2 Pet.2:7-8. 19:8
Lot's nameless wife looks back, and God turns her into a pillar of salt. 19:26
Lot and his daughters camp out in a cave for a while. The daughters get their "just and righteous" father drunk, and have sexual intercourse with him, and each conceives and bears a son (wouldn't you know it!). 19:30-38
Honest Abe does the same "she's my sister" routine again, for the same cowardly reason. And once again, the king just couldn't resist Sarah -- even though by now she is over 90 years old. (See Gen.12:13-20 for the first, nearly identical, episode.) 20:2
God gets angry with king Abimelech, though the king hasn't even touched Sarah. He says to the king, "Behold, thou art but a dead man," and threatens to kill him and all of his people. To compensate for the crime he never committed, Abimelech gives Abraham sheep, oxen, slaves, silver, and land. Finally, after Abraham "prayed unto God," God lifts his punishment to Abimelech, "for the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah." 20:3-18
God "closed all the wombs" because Abimelech believed Abe's lie. 20:18
"And the damsel was fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her." (Oh boy!) 24:16
Abraham had several concubines. 25:6
Isaac uses the same "she's my sister" lie that his father used so effectively (see Gen.12:13, 20:2). 26:7
Esau "takes" two wives. 26:34
Esau, who already had two wives (26:34), "takes" another. 28:9
Jacob offers to work for seven years to pay for Rachel. As it turns out, he is tricked into having sex with her sister, Leah, instead, so he has to work for another seven years so in order to pay for them both. 29:18-30
Jacob is tricked by Laban, the father of Rachel and Leah. Jacob asks for Rachel so that he can "go in unto her." But Laban gives him Leah instead, and Jacob "went in unto her [Leah]" by mistake. Jacob was fooled until morning -- apparently he didn't know who he was going in unto. Finally they worked things out and Jacob got to "go in unto" Rachel, too. 29:21-30
As part of the deal with Jacob, Zilpah and Bilhah (Laban's slaves) are handed over to Leah and Rachel. 29:24, 29
Laban gives Rachel and Bilhah to Jacob. 29:28
Since Jacob hated Leah, God decided to "open her womb" and make Rachel barren. (Like he did to Sarah and Rebekah.) 29:31
Leah conceives and bears four sons. And it's a good thing, too, since her husband hated her until then for not giving him any sons. 29:32-34
Give me children or else I die." Rachel considers herself worthless if she cannot produce children for her husband. 30:1
But luckily she has an idea. She says to Jacob, "Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her." She solved the problem the same way as did Sarah (16:2). 30:3
Leah, not to be outdone, gives Jacob her maid (Zilpah) "to wife." And Zilpah "bare Jacob a son." 30:9
Leah thinks her husband will honor her now that she has given him six sons. 30:20
And finally, "God remembered Rachel ... and opened her womb. And she conceived and bare a son [surprise, surprise]." 30:22
"Then Jacob ... set his ... wives upon camels." Jacob had four wives (or two wives and two concubines -- this distinction is not clear in the Bible): Rachel, Leah, Billah, and Zilpah. There is no indication that God disapproves of this arrangement. 31:17
Jacob has two wives and two concubines, continuing the biblical tradition of polygamy. 32:22
Laban, Rachel's father, is hunting for the "images" that Rachel had stolen from him. Rachel sits on the "images" and says to her father, "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee: for the custom of women is upon me." She knows that no man will come near her when she is menstruating. 31:34-35
Jacob has two wives and two concubines, continuing the biblical tradition of polygamy. 32:22
What did Dinah want? Did she love Shechem? Did she want to marry him? Or did she want him killed? We'll ever know since it was of no interest to the biblical author. 34:1-31
Dinah's brothers, to justify the massacre of a town for the rape of their sister, say: "Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?" To the author of Genesis, rape is a crime against the honor of men rather than against a woman. 34:31
Rachel dies in childbirth; but at least she had another son. And in the Bible, a woman is expected to die happily as long as she has a son. 35:17-18
"Reuben went and lay with his father's concubine." 35:22, 49:4
Esau (Isaac's son) had several wives (continuing the tradition of polygamy, with no editorial comment from the Bible). 36:2, 6
"And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite ... and he took her, and went in unto her. And she conceived, and bare a son; and she called his name Er. And she conceived again [I guess Judah must have went in unto her again] and bare a son; and she called hi name Onan." (It seems that the probability of having a biblical daughter is considerably less than 50%.) 38:2-4
After Judah pays Tamar for her services, he is told that she "played the harlot" and "is with child by whoredom." When Judah hears this, he says, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt." 38:24
Exodus
To commemorate the divine massacre of the Egyptian children, Moses instructs the Israelites to "sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix" -- all the males, that is. God has no use for dead, burnt female bodies. 13:2, 13:12-15
Moses, like a coach giving instructions to the team before the big game, tells the men to "come not at your wives" before he goes up to Mt. Sinai. 19:15
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, ... nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." In the Bible, women are the property of men; they are his possessions -- like an ox or an ass. 20:17
God explains how to go about selling your daughter -- and what to do if she fails to please her new master. 21:7
God's instructions for taking a second wife. 21:10
If you "entice" an "unmarried maid" to "lie" with you, then you must marry her, unless the father refuses to give her to you, in which case you must pay him the going price for virgins. 22:16
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Thousands of innocent women have suffered excruciating deaths because of this verse. 22:18
Three times a year God wants to see all of the males. The females he never wants to see. 23:17
"Their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods." God always blames the women; it is they who "go a whoring" and then "make" the men "go a whoring." 34:16
"Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord." But what about the "women children"? Don't they ever get to appear before the Lord? 34:23
Leviticus
Only unblemished males are to be killed and offered to God. Females don't even make good burnt offerings. 1:3, 10
When a king sins only the best sacrifice will do -- he must offer a male goat to God. But if a commoner sins, a female will do. 4:22-28
Women are dirty and sinful after childbirth, so God prescribes rituals for their purification. If a boy is born, the mother is unclean for 7 days and must be purified for 33 days; but if a girl is born, the mother is unclean for 14 days and be purified for 66 days. This is because, in the eyes of God, girls are twice as dirty as boys. 12:1-5
After a woman gives birth, a priest must kill a lamb, pigeon, or dove as a sin offering. This is because having children is sinful and God likes it when things are killed for him. 12:6-8
God lays down the law on menstruating women. Such women are to God both filthy and sinful, and anyone who comes near them is contaminated by them. 15:19-30, 33
A man who has sex with a menstruating woman "shall be unclean seven days." 15:24
"Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is apart for her uncleanness," Don't even look at a menstruating woman. 18:19
If a man has sex with an engaged slave woman, scourge the woman, but don't punish the man. (Even if he raped her?) 19:20-22
If a man has sex with his father's wife, kill them both. 20:11
If a man has sex with his daughter in law, kill them both. 20:12
If you "lie" with your wife and your mother-in-law (now that sounds fun!), then all three
If a woman "lies with a beast" both the woman and the animal are to be killed. 20:15
If a man has sex with a menstruating woman, they both "shall be cut off from among their people." 20:18
Women with "familiar spirits" are to be stoned to death. 20:27
Priests can't marry "whores", "profane", or divorced women. Why? Because "he is holy unto his God" and they would defile him. 21:7
A priest's daughter who "plays the whore" is to be burned to death. 21:9
A priest can only marry a virgin. No harlots, widows, or divorced women will do. (God really likes virgins.) 21:13-14
If a priest's daughter marries "a stranger" she can't eat any holy things. 22:12
God defines the value of human life in dollars and cents. Of course, to God, females are worth considerably less than males (50 - 60%) -- but neither are worth much. 27:3-7
Numbers
When "Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord" he was told to count "every male from a month old and upward." Women and girls didn't count as persons. 3:15-16
The Law of Jealousies. If a man suspects his wife of being unfaithful, he reports it to the priest. The priest then makes her drink some "bitter water." If she is guilty, the water makes her thigh rot and her belly swell. If innocent, no harm done -- the woman is free and will "conceive seed." In any case, "the man shall be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity." 5:11-31
Miriam and Aaron (Moses' brother and sister) criticize Moses for marrying an Ethiopian woman and thus breaking the law of God. But God makes it clear that his rules don't apply to his favorites, and he strikes Miriam with leprosy. Notice that only Miriam is punished, though both she and Aaron complained. 12:1, 9-10
When one of the Israelite men brings home a foreign woman, "Phinehas (Aaron's grandson) sees them and throws a spear "through the man .. and the woman through her belly." This act pleases God so much that "the plague was stayed from the children of Israel." But not before 24,000 had died. 25:6-9
For impaling the interracial couple, God rewards Phinehas and his sons with the everlasting priesthood. 25:10-13
If a man dies and has no son, then his inheritance goes to his daughter. But if he has a son, then the daughter gets nothing. Also no mention is made of wives, sisters, or aunts. 27:8
If men make vows, then God expects them to keep them. But a woman cannot make a vow, unless it is "allowed" by her husband or father. If it is "allowed," then she must keep it -- but even so, she is not responsible (her husband or father is). 30:3-16
Under God's direction, Moses' army defeats the Midianites. They kill all the adult males, but take the women and children captive. When Moses learns that they left some live, he angrily says: "Have you saved all the women alive? Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." So they went back and did as Moses (and presumably God) instructed, killing everyone except for the virgins. In this way they got 32,000 virgins -- Wow! (Even God gets some of the booty -- including the virgins.) 31:1-54
Deuteronomy
Don't covet your neighbor's wife or ass -- or any thing that belongs to your neighbor. You see, in the eyes of God, women are the possessions of men. 5:21
Three times a year all of the males are to appear before God. The females he never wants to see. 16:16
In the cities that god "delivers into thine hands" you must kill all the males (including old men, boys, and babies) with "the edge of the sword .... But the women ... shalt thou take unto yourself." 20:13-14
If you see a pretty woman among the captives and would like her for a wife, then just bring her home and "go in unto her." Later, if you decide you don't like her, you can "let her go." 21:11-14
Rules for those who have two wives: "one beloved, and another hated." 21:15
When a man dies, his sons inherit his property. Wives and daughters get nothing at all. 21:16
Women are not to wear men's clothing -- it's an "abomination unto the Lord." 22:5
If a man marries, then decides that he hates his wife, he can claim she wasn't a virgin when they were married. If her father can't produce the "tokens of her virginity" (bloody sheets), then the woman is to be stoned to death at her father's doorstep. 22:13-21
If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die. 22:22
If a betrothed virgin is raped in the city and doesn't cry out loud enough, then "the men of the city shall stone her to death." 22:23-24
If a woman is raped in the country, then only the man shall die (since there was no one to hear her if she cried out.) 22:25
If a man rapes an unbetrothed virgin, he must pay her father 50 shekels of silver and then marry her. 22:28-29
God says not be bring any whore into the house of the Lord. For "these things are an abomination to the Lord." 23:17-18
If a man marries a woman and later finds "some uncleanness in her," then he can divorce her and kick her out of his house. If another man marries her and then dies, the first husband cannot marry her again. "For that is an abomination before the Lord." 24:1-4
If a man dies before his wife has a child, then the widow must marry her husband's brother -- whether she likes him or not, and whether she wants to or not. 25:5
If two men fight and the wife of one grabs the "secrets" of the other, "then thou shalt cut off her hand" and "thine eye shall not pity her." 25:11-12
"Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife, because he uncovereth his father's skirt." (Why?) How does having sex with the father's wife uncover the father's skirt? Well, I guess it's because the father owns his wife. So the offense is against him, not her. 27:20
"The tender and delicate woman" will be forced to eat her own children "that cometh out from between her feet." 28:56-57
Joshua
Caleb offers to give his daughter to whoever conquers the city of Debir. Caleb's nephew wins the contest and is given his cousin for a prize. 15:16-17
Judges
Caleb offers to give his daughter to anyone who conquers the city of Debir. Caleb's nephew wins the contest and is given his cousin for a prize. 1:12-13
"Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two?" 5:30
Gideon had 70 sons (no one knows how many daughters) "for he had many wives 8:30
After being hit in the head with a millstone thrown by a woman, a soldier orders his armor bearer to kill him so that no one would say that a woman had killed him. 9:53-54
When "the spirit of the Lord" comes upon Jephthah, he makes a deal with God: If God will help him kill the Ammonites, then he (Jephthah) will offer to God as a burnt offering whatever comes out of his house to greet him. God keeps his end of the deal by providing Jephthah with "a very great slaughter." But when Jephthah returns, his nameless daughter comes out to greet him (who'd he expect, his wife?). Well, a deal's a deal, so he delivers her to God as a burnt offering -- after letting her spend a couple of months going up and down on the mountains bewailing her virginity. 11:29-39
Manoah's nameless wife, like so many biblical women, is barren. But an angel fixes that, and Samson is born. 13:2-3, 6, 9
Samson sees a Philistine woman and tells his parents to "get her for me; for she pleaseth me well." 14:1-3
"If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle."
Samson called his wife a heifer. 14:18
Samson's father-in-law gave Samson's wife away to a friend, since he thought Samson "hated" her. He suggests that Samson take his younger daughter instead, saying the younger one's prettier anyway. 15:2
After taking in a traveling Levite, the host offers his virgin daughter and his guest's concubine to a mob of perverts (who want to have sex with his guest). The mob refuses the daughter, but accepts the concubine and they "abuse her all night." The next morning she crawls back to the doorstep and dies. The Levite puts her dead body on an ass and takes her home. Then he chops her body up into twelve pieces and sends them to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 19:22-30
To find wives for the Benjamites (they were unwilling to use their own daughters), the other tribes attacked and killed all occupants of a city except for the young virgins. These virgins were then given to the Benjamites for wives. 21:7-23
Ruth
Ruth does as Naomi says, and then at midnight Boaz wakes up and finds Ruth "at his feet." He asks who she is, and she says, "I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore your skirt over thine handmaid." 3:7-9
Boaz purchases Ruth to be his wife. 4:10
1 Samuel
"He [Samuel's father] had two wives." Once again, by its silence, the Bible endorses polygamy. 1:2
"The Lord had shut up her [Hannah's] womb." Why? The Bible doesn't say. Maybe God had nothing better to do. 1:5
"And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her [he probably said something like, "Oh yeah, she's the one whose womb I shut up."]. And Hannah conceived and "bare a son [Oh boy, another boy!], and called his name Samuel." 1:19-20
David and Saul have a contest to see who can kill the most people for God, and the women act as cheerleaders saying, "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." 18:6-7, 21:11, 29:5
David kills 200 Philistines and brings their foreskins to Saul to buy his first wife (Saul's daughter Michal). Saul had only asked for 100 foreskins, but David was feeling generous. 18:25-27
The priest tells David that he and his men can eat the "hallowed" bread if "they have kept themselves at least from women." David assures the priest that they have and that "the vessels of the young men are holy." So it'd be OK for them to eat the holy bread. 21:4-5
"And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died." This was convenient for David who then took his property and his wife, Abigail. 25:38
David takes his second wife (Abigail) after God killed her husband (Nabal). He also, at the same time, took another wife (#3), Abinam. In the meantime, Saul gave Michal (his daughter and David's first wife) to another man. 25:41-44
David just keeps getting more wives. God doesn't seem to mind a bit. 30:5
2 Samuel
David, by this time, has at least seven wives (Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, and Ehlah), and he was just getting started. 3:2-5
David says, "deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines." Well, he actually paid with two hundred foreskins (see 1 Sam.18:25-27). 3:14
Michal was bought by David with 200 Philistine foreskins (1 Sam.18:25-27), then she was "given" to Phatiel (1 Sam.25:44), and then "taken back" by David. Poor Phatiel must have loved her dearly since he "went along weeping behind her." 3:15-16
"And David took him more concubines and wives." (How many? God knows I suppose, but he doesn't tell us in the Bible.) 5:13
David sees a woman (Bathsheba) bathing and likes what he sees. so he sends for her and commits adultery with her "for she was purified from her uncleanness." She conceives and bears a son (of course). 11:2-5
David tells Joab (his captain) to send Bathseba's husband (Uriah) to "the forefront of the hottest battle ... that he may be smitten and die." In this way, David gets another wife. 11:15, 11:17, 11:27
God gave the wives of king Saul to David. 12:7-8
God is angry at David for having Uriah killed. As a punishment, he will have David's wives raped by his neighbor while everyone else watches. It turns out that the "neighbor" that God sends to do his dirty work is David's own son, Absalom (16:22). 12:11-12
To punish David for having Uriah killed, God kills Bathsheba's baby boy. 12:14-18
After Bathsheba's baby is killed by God, David comforts her by going "in unto her." She conceives and bears another son (Solomon). 12:24
Ammon (David's son) says to his half-sister Tamar, "Come lie with me, my sister." But she resists, so he rapes her and then sends her away. Tamar, knowing that she now belongs to him (since she was a virgin), expects him to marry her, but he refuses. 13:1-22
David leaves ten of his concubines home to clean house. 15:16
Absalom "went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel." This was according the God's plan as announced in 2 Sam.12:11-12. 16:21-22
To punish his ten concubines for being raped by his son, Absalom (See 16:21-22), David refuses to ever again have sex with them and forces them to "keep house" for the rest of their lives. 20:3
1 Kings
Old King David tries to get some heat by having a beautiful virgin minister unto him. 1:1-4
"King Solomon loved many strange women. And he had 700 wives and 300 concubines." God didn't mind the number so much; it was their strangeness that he objected to. 11:1-3
Note that Solomon is told to stay away from foreign women. Why? Because they have different ("strange") religious beliefs, and God disapproves of mixed-faith marriages. 11:2
The wisest man that ever lived (1 Kg.4:31) was misled by his wives into worshipping other gods. 11:4, 15:3
Jezebel (Ahab's "strange" wife) "stirred up" Ahab to "work wickedness in the sight of the Lord." to punish her, God vows that "the dogs shall eat Jezebel." 21:23, 25
2 Kings
King Menahem rips up all the pregnant women in Tizzah "because they opened not to him." Does God approve of such acts? It's impossible to tell from this passage; the mass murder is simply reported without editorial comment. 15:16
1 Chronicles
"And Tamar his daughter in law bore him Pharez...." See Gen.38 for all the sordid details. 2:4
Ashur had two wives, continuing the long line of biblical polygamists. 4:5
"And David took more wives" with the apparent approval of God. 14:3
2 Chronicles
Solomon's Egyptian wife can't be around holy places. Is that because she is a woman or because she is an Egyptian, or both? 8:11
Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines. Once again, if silence implies consent, then God must approve of such arrangements. 11:21
"But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives." Apparently, in the eyes of God, a man's status is determined by the number of wives that he possesses. 13:21
"Jehoiada took for him two wives" -- without comment, complaint, or criticism from the bible. 24:3
Ezra
The Israelites offend God by "taking" foreign wives and thereby corrupting "the holy seed." 9:2
Ezra tells the men that they must abandon their wives and children if they are to avoid God's wrath. 10:2-3, 10-12
Nehemiah
Nehemiah rebukes the men for marrying "strange wives." To punish them he "contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair." 13:25-27
Esther
King Ahasuerus throws a party and encourages his guests to drink to excess. Then, when they are all drunk, he orders Queen Vashti to show her stuff before him and his guests. 1:7-11
Vashti refuses to entertain the king's drunken guests by dancing before them. For this she is no longer to be queen, to be replaced by someone better (prettier?). 1:12-19
Because of Vashti's disobedience, the king decrees that "all the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both the great and the small" and "that every man should bear rule over his own house." 1:20-22
"All the fair young virgins" throughout the kingdom are brought before the king, and the one that "pleaseth" the king the most will replace Vashti. 2:2-4
When it was Esther turn to "go in unto the king," she pleases the king the most. So, having won the sex contest, she is made queen in Vashti's place. 2:8-9, 12-17
Since women are inherently dirty, the woman that "pleased the king" the most must be "purified" for twelve months before she can be made queen. 2:9-12
Job
Job's wife rightly says that if Job is to keep his integrity, then he should curse God (for playing vicious games with Satan) and die. Job replies that she is talking like a "foolish woman." 2:9-10
Speaking of births, Job says: "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean. Not one." So according to the Bible, women are dirty (sinful), giving birth is dirty (sinful), and the newborn baby is dirty (sinful). 14:4
After God (or Satan) kills Job's first set of kids (1:19), he is given an even better set -- with even prettier daughters! 42:13-15
Psalms
"In sin did my mother conceive me." God considers both women and sex to be sinful. 51:5
God sent a plague on the Israelites for "committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab." But "then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment [by throwing a spear through a newly married couple]: and so the plague was stayed." But not before 24,000 (1 Cor.10:8 says 23,000) had died. (See Num.25:6-9 for all the gory details.) 106:29-30
Proverbs
God warns us about the dangers of "strange women." Strange men are OK though. 2:16-19
The feet of strange women "go down to death," and "her steps take hold on hell." 5:3-5
Watch out for those evil, strange, and whorish women. 6:24-26
A woman that seduces a man is evil -- the man is just an innocent victim. 7:5-27
We are warned again about "foolish women" who are "simple" and "knoweth nothing," who drag their guests into "the depths of hell." 9:13-18
A fair woman without discretion is like a golden jewel in a pig's snout. 11:22
Avoid living with "brawling" women. 21:9, 25:24
Try not to live with "contentious" or "angry" women. 21:19
"Strange women" have "deep pits" for mouths into which fall those whom God hates. 22:14
"Whores" and "strange women" lie around waiting to trap innocent men. 23:27-28
Don't even look at any "strange women." If you do, you will utter perverse things. 23:33
"Contentious women" are like "a continual dropping on a very rainy day." There are no contentious men. Well, maybe there are a few, but they are like sunny spring days. 27:15
Adulterous women eat, wipe their mouths, and say "what a good girl am I." 30:20
One of the four things that the earth cannot bear is: an odious woman when she is married." 30:21, 23
Don't give your strength to women. 31:3
"Who can find a virtuous woman?" Virtuous men are much more common. 31:10
Ecclesiastes
"But a woman among all those have I not found."
The Preacher could find a few good men (maybe one in a thousand or so), but not a single good woman. 7:28
Song of Solomon
"There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number." 6:8
Isaiah
Isaiah shows his contempt for women by saying that things have gotten so bad for his people that "women rule over them." 3:12
God will "smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion" and "will discover their secret parts" since he doesn't like the way they dress and walk. 3:16-17
After God takes away the women's jewelry and perfume, "discovers their secret parts," and makes them all bald and stinking, he'll kill their husbands. Women will then become so desperate that "seven women will take hold of one man, saying ... let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." 4:1
After God "washed away the filth" from the women and killed the men, he set up "a cloud and smoke by day" and a "flaming fire by night." 4:4-5
Egypt will become weakened and frightened "like unto women." 19:16
Talking about graven images Isaiah says, "thou shalt cast them away as a menstrous cloth." 30:22
"Tremble, ye women that are at ease .. strip you, and make you bare ... They shall lament for the teats." 32:6
Jeremiah
Jeremiah insults people by calling them "harlots" who have sex on every hill and under every tree. 2:20
God compares Jerusalem's sinful ways to a promiscuous woman, or a wild donkey in heat. 2:24
"Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?" This is meant to be a rhetorical question with an obvious answer: Of course not; women think only about their clothes. 2:32
A divorced woman is "polluted" when she remarries. The man, of course, remains perfectly clean through it all, even though he was the one who "put her away" in the first place. 3:1
"In the ways thou hast sat for them ..." A woman can't even sit anymore without being condemned by God. 3:2
Jeremiah loves to insult people. His favorite insult is to call someone a whore. In this verse he accuses Judah of having a "whore's forehead." 3:3
More talk of harlots who have sex under every tree. 3:6
Judah commits adultery with "stocks and stones." 3:9
"Thou ... hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree." 3:13
"As a wife treacherously departeth from her husband ..." If a woman leaves her husband, she is "treacherous," but a man is blameless when he "puts her away" for no reason. 3:20
God threatens to punish the men by taking away all of their property, including their wives, and giving them to others. 6:12
To punish men, God will "give their wives unto others." 8:10
God compares the destruction of Jerusalem to the rape of a woman who deserves to be raped because she has sinned. 13:22
God plans to expose Jerusalem's private parts to the world by lifting her skirt over her head, so to speak. He's seen her commit whoredoms and abominations and whatnot on the hills, and he's getting darned sick of it! 13:26-27
"Have you forgotten ... the wickedness of your wives?" Jeremiah blames it all on "the wickedness" of the Israelites' wives. 44:9
God is going to do some really bad things to the people because the women burned incense to the "Queen of Heaven" (Mary?). 44:15-23
God will cause the daughters of Rabbah to be burned with fire. 49:2
God plans to make the Babylonian men "become like women." (A fate worse than death to a misogynous god.). 50:37
Lamentations
Jerusalem is compared to a naked woman who sighs and turns backward. "Her filthiness is in her skirts." 1:8-9
The adversary puts his hand upon "all her pleasant things. 1:10
"Jerusalem is as a menstrous woman." (To God this is an insult.) 1:17
God mercilessly kills everyone, young and old. He even causes women to eat their children. 2:20-22
God "accomplishes his fury" by making women eat their children. 4:10-11
When God gets angry at you he calls you a drunken whore. 4:21
Ezekiel
God sends a "man clothed with linen" to mark the foreheads of the men who will be saved. Apparently only men are considered good enough to keep, the others (unmarked men, "maids", little children, and women) are to be slaughtered. God says he'll "fill the courts with the slain" and will have pity on no one. 9:4-10
"Woe to the woman that sew pillows ... Behold, I am against your pillows." (God likes neither woman nor pillows.) 13:18-21
God dresses up Jerusalem, cleans off the blood that she was wallowing in, and compliments her on her nice hair and breasts. 16:6-7, 22
Jerusalem was a harlot who had sex with everyone that passed by. 16:15-16
"Thou hast ... madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them." 16:17
"Thou ... hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by." 16:25
"Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh." (Jerusalem had sex with Egyptians with big penises.) 16:26
Jerusalem still wasn't satisfied after having sex with the well-endowed Egyptians (v.26), so she had sex with the Assyrians too. Yet she still wasn't satisfied. So she had sex with the men of Canaan and Chaldea, but still was not satisfied. 16:28-29
God calls Jerusalem "an imperious whorish woman." 16:30
God says that Jerusalem has sex with strangers, hiring them to "come in unto thee on every side." 16:32-33
Because she is such a filthy harlot, God will expose her nakedness before all of her lovers. 16:35-36
After exposing her nakedness, God will give her "blood in fury and jealousy" and strip her naked once more. 16:38-41
A good man never gets near a menstruating woman. 18:5-6
Information from God about discovering the nakedness of fathers, committing adultery with neighbor's wives, sex with menstruating women, daughters-in-law, sisters, etc. 22:1-11
Two sisters were guilty of "committing whoredoms" by pressing their breasts and bruising "the teats of their virginity." As a punishment, one sister's nakedness was discovered, her children were taken from her, and she was killed by the sword. And the fate of the surviving sister was even worse: Her nose and ears were cut off, she was made to "pluck off" her own breasts, and then after being raped and mutilated, she is stoned to death. 23:1-49
God kills Ezekiel's wife and then tells him not to mourn her. 24:15-18
God says he will destroy Tyrus. He plans to kill everyone, but he is especially looking forward to killing all of the women. "And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD." 26:1-21
In condemning Israel God says, "their way was before me as the uncleanliness of a removed woman." 36:16-17
Hosea
God tells Hosea to commit adultery, saying "take ... a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms" because the land has "committed great whoredom." So Hosea did as God commanded and "took" a wife named Gomer. 1:2-3
God (or Hosea?) tells his children that their mother is a whore who is not his wife. He asks them to tell their mother to "put away her whoredoms" and "her adulteries from between her breasts" or he'll "strip her naked ... and slay her with thirst." 2:2-3
God "will not have mercy upon ... the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot." 2:4-5
God says he "will discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers." 2:10
God acts like a jealous lover. 2:13
God tells Hosea to "love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress." 3:1
So Hosea buys a wife for 15 pieces of silver and one and a half homers of barley. 3:2
Committing whoredom by going a whoring with the spirit of whoredom. 4:10
If you misbehave, God will make your daughters "commit whoredom" and your wife "commit adultery." 4:13
Israel has "gone a whoring" and has "loved a reward upon every cornfloor." 9:1
God will induce miscarriages and kill the children of Ephraim. 9:11-12
"O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts." 9:14
"I will slay even the beloved fruit of their womb." 9:16
God will punish Israel by "dashing" together mothers and their children. 10:14
Because the Samaritans chose to worship another deity, God will dash their infants to pieces and their "women with child shall be ripped up." 13:16
Amos
"A man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name." 2:7
Amos tells Amaziah that his wife will become a whore, his children will be killed, and he'll die in a pagan country. 7:17
Micah
"I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand." 5:12
Nahum
God will "discover thy skirts upon thy face, ... show the nations thy nakedness" and "will cast abominable filth upon thee."3:4-6
"You're all a bunch of women" was the biggest insult God could think of at the moment. 3:13
Zephaniah
"Woe to her that her that is filthy and polluted." (Only women are filthy and polluted.) 3:1
Zechariah
Evil is personified as a woman. 5:7-8
God will make "all nations" fight against Jerusalem. The women will be "ravished." 14:1-2
Matthew
Jesus says that divorce is permissible when the wife is guilty of fornication. But what if the husband is unfaithful? Jesus doesn't seem to care about that. 5:32, 19:9
When Jesus' mother wants to see him, Jesus asks, "Who is my mother?" 12:47-49
Abandon your wife and children for Jesus and he'll give you a big reward. 19:29
"Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." Why? Does God especially hate pregnant and nursing women? 24:19
Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins who went to meet their bridegroom. 25:1
Mark
Jesus shows disrespect for his mother and family by asking, "Who is my mother, or my brethren?" when he is told that his family wants to speak with him. 3:31-34
Jesus will reward men who abandon their wives and families. 10:29-30
In the last days God will make things especially rough on pregnant women. 13:17
Luke
Even Mary had to be "purified" after giving birth to Jesus. Was she defiled by giving birth to the Son of God? 2:22
Males are holy to God, not females. 2:23
Peter and his partners (James and John) abandon their wives and children to follow Jesus. 5:11
Jesus, when told that his mother and brothers want to see him, ignores and insults them by saying that his mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. 8:20-21
Abandon your wife and family for Jesus and he'll give you a big reward. 18:29-30
John
Jesus tells Mary Magdalene not to touch him because he hasn't yet ascended -- as if the touch of a woman would defile him and somehow prevent him from ascending into heaven. 20:17
Romans
Paul explains that "the natural use" of women is to act as sexual objects for the pleasure of men. 1:27
"Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church."
The Revised Standard Version calls Phoebe a "deaconess", which would make would make her a church leader. If the RSV translation is correct, this verse contradicts the requirement that women not be permitted to teach and that they must be silent in church. (1 Cor.14:34-35, 1 Tim.2:11-12). 16:1
"Junia ... of note among the apostles"
Was there a woman apostle? That is how some interpret this verse and use it to justify a more active role for women in the church. 16:7
1 Corinthians
Paul would prefer that no one marry. but he says "to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife." 7:1-2
"Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife." 7:27
Paul says "the head of the woman is the man," meaning that the women are to be subordinate to men. 11:3
If a woman refuses to cover her head in church, then her her head must be shaved. 11:5-6
Men are made in the image of God; women in the image of men. Women were created from and for men. 11:7-9
Every women should have power on her head because of the angels. 11:10
Women are commanded by Paul to be silent in church and to be obedient to men. He further says that "if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in church." 14:34-35
Ephesians
Wives must to their husbands "in every thing" as though they were Christ. "For the husband is the head of the wife." 5:22-24
Wives must reverence their husband. 5:33
Colossians
Wives, according to Paul, must themselves to their husbands. 3:18
1 Timothy
Women are to dress modestly, "with shamefacedness" -- "not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array." 2:9
"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." 2:11-12
Men are superior to women since Adam was made before, and sinned after, Eve. But even though women are inferior to men, they shouldn't be discouraged because they shall "be saved in childbearing." 2:14-15
"A bishop must be ... the husband of one wife." Apparently, it's OK for laymen to have several. 3:2
Real widows are "desolate" and pray "night and day." But those widows that experience pleasure are "dead while [they] live." 5:5-6
You should help a widow only if she 1) is over 60 years old, 2) had only one husband, 3) has raised children, 4) has lodged strangers, 5) has "washed the saints feet," 6) has relieved the afflicted, and 7) has "diligently followed very good work." Otherwise, let them starve. "But the younger widows refuse [to help]: for ... they will marry; having damnation." Besides the young widows are always idle tattlers -- "busybodies, spreading things which they ought not." He adds that "some are already turned aside after Satan." 5:9-15
2 Timothy
In the last days, "silly women" who are "ever learning" will be "led away with divers lusts." 3:6-7
Titus
A bishop should have only one wife. I guess it's OK for laymen to have several. 1:6-7
"Teach the young women to be ... obedient to their own husbands." 2:4-5
1 Peter
Peter orders all wives to be "in subjection" to their husbands. 3:1
Wives are to use "chaste conversation, coupled with fear." They are not to braid their hair, wear gold, or put on any "apparel." They are to do these things in imitation of the "holy" women of the Old testament who were "in subjection to their won husbands: even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord." 3:2-6
In relation to her husband, the wife is "the weaker vessel." 3:7
2 Peter
Lot, who in Gen.19:8 offers his two virgin daughters to a crowd of angel rapers and later (19:30-38) impregnates them, was a "righteous man." 2:8
1 John
John writes to the men (fathers) only. Women (mothers?) are not important enough to address. 2:13-14
Revelation
Jezebel (whom God had thrown off a wall, trampled by horses, and eaten by dogs [2 Kg.9:33-37]) is further reviled by John, saying "that woman Jezebel" taught and seduced God's "servants to commit fornication." 2:20
Jesus will "cast her [Jezebel] into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her." 2:22
Only 144,000 celibate men will be saved. (Those who were not "defiled with women.") 14:1-4
Drinking the wine of her fornication. 14:8
The great whore has "committed fornication" with all the kings on earth. Everyone else is "drunk with the wine of her fornication." She sits on a scarlet colored beast with the usual 7 heads and 10 horns. She carries a cup full of the "filthiness of her abominations" and has a big sign on her forehead saying: "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth." You'll know her when you see her. 17:1-5
"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs." 17:6
"All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her." 18:3
The "great whore" corrupted the earth with her fornication. 19:2
I will ... that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.--1 Tim.2:8-9
The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of woman's emancipation. -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible
Genesis
God fashions a woman out of one of Adam's ribs. This was necessary since Adam couldn't find a "help meet" in any of the animals that God made for him. 2:20-22
Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. 3:12-13
God punishes Eve, and all women after her, with the pains of childbirth and subjection to men. 3:16
Adam is also punished, although less severely. He now will have to work for a living because he "hearkened unto the voice" of his wife. 3:17
Lamech is the first of a long line of biblical men with more than one wife. It seems that God approves of such marriages. 4:19, 23
Finally, sometime in the next 800 years, Adam begat some daughters. These nameless ones are the first (and nearly the last) girls to be born in the Bible. 5:4
"The male and his female ..." Notice that in the Bible female animals are the property of male animals, as women are the property of men. 7:2
Abram makes his wife lie for him, by telling the Egyptians that she is his sister. But at least it was half-true, since she was his half-sister. Such incestuous marriages are condemned elsewhere in the Bible, but god makes an exception for Abram and Sarai. (See Gen.17:15-16 where God blesses their marriage.) 12:13
Sarai is the first of a long line of barren women who were desperate for children. (In the Bible, it is the women who are barren, never the men.) She sends Abram into her handmaid, Hagar, so that she can "obtain children by her." Abram gladly complies. 16:1-4
Sarah, who is about 90 years old and has gone through menopause, laughs at God when he tells her that she will have a son. She asks God if she will "have pleasure" with her "Lord" [Abraham], when both are so very old. God assures her that he will return and impregnate her at the appointed time. 18:11-14
Lot refuses to give up his angels to the perverted mob, offering his two "virgin daughters" instead. He tells the bunch of angel rapers to "do unto them [his daughters] as is good in your eyes." This is the same man that is called "just" and "righteous" in 2 Pet.2:7-8. 19:8
Lot's nameless wife looks back, and God turns her into a pillar of salt. 19:26
Lot and his daughters camp out in a cave for a while. The daughters get their "just and righteous" father drunk, and have sexual intercourse with him, and each conceives and bears a son (wouldn't you know it!). 19:30-38
Honest Abe does the same "she's my sister" routine again, for the same cowardly reason. And once again, the king just couldn't resist Sarah -- even though by now she is over 90 years old. (See Gen.12:13-20 for the first, nearly identical, episode.) 20:2
God gets angry with king Abimelech, though the king hasn't even touched Sarah. He says to the king, "Behold, thou art but a dead man," and threatens to kill him and all of his people. To compensate for the crime he never committed, Abimelech gives Abraham sheep, oxen, slaves, silver, and land. Finally, after Abraham "prayed unto God," God lifts his punishment to Abimelech, "for the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah." 20:3-18
God "closed all the wombs" because Abimelech believed Abe's lie. 20:18
"And the damsel was fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her." (Oh boy!) 24:16
Abraham had several concubines. 25:6
Isaac uses the same "she's my sister" lie that his father used so effectively (see Gen.12:13, 20:2). 26:7
Esau "takes" two wives. 26:34
Esau, who already had two wives (26:34), "takes" another. 28:9
Jacob offers to work for seven years to pay for Rachel. As it turns out, he is tricked into having sex with her sister, Leah, instead, so he has to work for another seven years so in order to pay for them both. 29:18-30
Jacob is tricked by Laban, the father of Rachel and Leah. Jacob asks for Rachel so that he can "go in unto her." But Laban gives him Leah instead, and Jacob "went in unto her [Leah]" by mistake. Jacob was fooled until morning -- apparently he didn't know who he was going in unto. Finally they worked things out and Jacob got to "go in unto" Rachel, too. 29:21-30
As part of the deal with Jacob, Zilpah and Bilhah (Laban's slaves) are handed over to Leah and Rachel. 29:24, 29
Laban gives Rachel and Bilhah to Jacob. 29:28
Since Jacob hated Leah, God decided to "open her womb" and make Rachel barren. (Like he did to Sarah and Rebekah.) 29:31
Leah conceives and bears four sons. And it's a good thing, too, since her husband hated her until then for not giving him any sons. 29:32-34
Give me children or else I die." Rachel considers herself worthless if she cannot produce children for her husband. 30:1
But luckily she has an idea. She says to Jacob, "Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her." She solved the problem the same way as did Sarah (16:2). 30:3
Leah, not to be outdone, gives Jacob her maid (Zilpah) "to wife." And Zilpah "bare Jacob a son." 30:9
Leah thinks her husband will honor her now that she has given him six sons. 30:20
And finally, "God remembered Rachel ... and opened her womb. And she conceived and bare a son [surprise, surprise]." 30:22
"Then Jacob ... set his ... wives upon camels." Jacob had four wives (or two wives and two concubines -- this distinction is not clear in the Bible): Rachel, Leah, Billah, and Zilpah. There is no indication that God disapproves of this arrangement. 31:17
Jacob has two wives and two concubines, continuing the biblical tradition of polygamy. 32:22
Laban, Rachel's father, is hunting for the "images" that Rachel had stolen from him. Rachel sits on the "images" and says to her father, "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee: for the custom of women is upon me." She knows that no man will come near her when she is menstruating. 31:34-35
Jacob has two wives and two concubines, continuing the biblical tradition of polygamy. 32:22
What did Dinah want? Did she love Shechem? Did she want to marry him? Or did she want him killed? We'll ever know since it was of no interest to the biblical author. 34:1-31
Dinah's brothers, to justify the massacre of a town for the rape of their sister, say: "Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?" To the author of Genesis, rape is a crime against the honor of men rather than against a woman. 34:31
Rachel dies in childbirth; but at least she had another son. And in the Bible, a woman is expected to die happily as long as she has a son. 35:17-18
"Reuben went and lay with his father's concubine." 35:22, 49:4
Esau (Isaac's son) had several wives (continuing the tradition of polygamy, with no editorial comment from the Bible). 36:2, 6
"And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite ... and he took her, and went in unto her. And she conceived, and bare a son; and she called his name Er. And she conceived again [I guess Judah must have went in unto her again] and bare a son; and she called hi name Onan." (It seems that the probability of having a biblical daughter is considerably less than 50%.) 38:2-4
After Judah pays Tamar for her services, he is told that she "played the harlot" and "is with child by whoredom." When Judah hears this, he says, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt." 38:24
Exodus
To commemorate the divine massacre of the Egyptian children, Moses instructs the Israelites to "sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix" -- all the males, that is. God has no use for dead, burnt female bodies. 13:2, 13:12-15
Moses, like a coach giving instructions to the team before the big game, tells the men to "come not at your wives" before he goes up to Mt. Sinai. 19:15
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, ... nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." In the Bible, women are the property of men; they are his possessions -- like an ox or an ass. 20:17
God explains how to go about selling your daughter -- and what to do if she fails to please her new master. 21:7
God's instructions for taking a second wife. 21:10
If you "entice" an "unmarried maid" to "lie" with you, then you must marry her, unless the father refuses to give her to you, in which case you must pay him the going price for virgins. 22:16
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Thousands of innocent women have suffered excruciating deaths because of this verse. 22:18
Three times a year God wants to see all of the males. The females he never wants to see. 23:17
"Their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods." God always blames the women; it is they who "go a whoring" and then "make" the men "go a whoring." 34:16
"Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord." But what about the "women children"? Don't they ever get to appear before the Lord? 34:23
Leviticus
Only unblemished males are to be killed and offered to God. Females don't even make good burnt offerings. 1:3, 10
When a king sins only the best sacrifice will do -- he must offer a male goat to God. But if a commoner sins, a female will do. 4:22-28
Women are dirty and sinful after childbirth, so God prescribes rituals for their purification. If a boy is born, the mother is unclean for 7 days and must be purified for 33 days; but if a girl is born, the mother is unclean for 14 days and be purified for 66 days. This is because, in the eyes of God, girls are twice as dirty as boys. 12:1-5
After a woman gives birth, a priest must kill a lamb, pigeon, or dove as a sin offering. This is because having children is sinful and God likes it when things are killed for him. 12:6-8
God lays down the law on menstruating women. Such women are to God both filthy and sinful, and anyone who comes near them is contaminated by them. 15:19-30, 33
A man who has sex with a menstruating woman "shall be unclean seven days." 15:24
"Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is apart for her uncleanness," Don't even look at a menstruating woman. 18:19
If a man has sex with an engaged slave woman, scourge the woman, but don't punish the man. (Even if he raped her?) 19:20-22
If a man has sex with his father's wife, kill them both. 20:11
If a man has sex with his daughter in law, kill them both. 20:12
If you "lie" with your wife and your mother-in-law (now that sounds fun!), then all three
If a woman "lies with a beast" both the woman and the animal are to be killed. 20:15
If a man has sex with a menstruating woman, they both "shall be cut off from among their people." 20:18
Women with "familiar spirits" are to be stoned to death. 20:27
Priests can't marry "whores", "profane", or divorced women. Why? Because "he is holy unto his God" and they would defile him. 21:7
A priest's daughter who "plays the whore" is to be burned to death. 21:9
A priest can only marry a virgin. No harlots, widows, or divorced women will do. (God really likes virgins.) 21:13-14
If a priest's daughter marries "a stranger" she can't eat any holy things. 22:12
God defines the value of human life in dollars and cents. Of course, to God, females are worth considerably less than males (50 - 60%) -- but neither are worth much. 27:3-7
Numbers
When "Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord" he was told to count "every male from a month old and upward." Women and girls didn't count as persons. 3:15-16
The Law of Jealousies. If a man suspects his wife of being unfaithful, he reports it to the priest. The priest then makes her drink some "bitter water." If she is guilty, the water makes her thigh rot and her belly swell. If innocent, no harm done -- the woman is free and will "conceive seed." In any case, "the man shall be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity." 5:11-31
Miriam and Aaron (Moses' brother and sister) criticize Moses for marrying an Ethiopian woman and thus breaking the law of God. But God makes it clear that his rules don't apply to his favorites, and he strikes Miriam with leprosy. Notice that only Miriam is punished, though both she and Aaron complained. 12:1, 9-10
When one of the Israelite men brings home a foreign woman, "Phinehas (Aaron's grandson) sees them and throws a spear "through the man .. and the woman through her belly." This act pleases God so much that "the plague was stayed from the children of Israel." But not before 24,000 had died. 25:6-9
For impaling the interracial couple, God rewards Phinehas and his sons with the everlasting priesthood. 25:10-13
If a man dies and has no son, then his inheritance goes to his daughter. But if he has a son, then the daughter gets nothing. Also no mention is made of wives, sisters, or aunts. 27:8
If men make vows, then God expects them to keep them. But a woman cannot make a vow, unless it is "allowed" by her husband or father. If it is "allowed," then she must keep it -- but even so, she is not responsible (her husband or father is). 30:3-16
Under God's direction, Moses' army defeats the Midianites. They kill all the adult males, but take the women and children captive. When Moses learns that they left some live, he angrily says: "Have you saved all the women alive? Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." So they went back and did as Moses (and presumably God) instructed, killing everyone except for the virgins. In this way they got 32,000 virgins -- Wow! (Even God gets some of the booty -- including the virgins.) 31:1-54
Deuteronomy
Don't covet your neighbor's wife or ass -- or any thing that belongs to your neighbor. You see, in the eyes of God, women are the possessions of men. 5:21
Three times a year all of the males are to appear before God. The females he never wants to see. 16:16
In the cities that god "delivers into thine hands" you must kill all the males (including old men, boys, and babies) with "the edge of the sword .... But the women ... shalt thou take unto yourself." 20:13-14
If you see a pretty woman among the captives and would like her for a wife, then just bring her home and "go in unto her." Later, if you decide you don't like her, you can "let her go." 21:11-14
Rules for those who have two wives: "one beloved, and another hated." 21:15
When a man dies, his sons inherit his property. Wives and daughters get nothing at all. 21:16
Women are not to wear men's clothing -- it's an "abomination unto the Lord." 22:5
If a man marries, then decides that he hates his wife, he can claim she wasn't a virgin when they were married. If her father can't produce the "tokens of her virginity" (bloody sheets), then the woman is to be stoned to death at her father's doorstep. 22:13-21
If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die. 22:22
If a betrothed virgin is raped in the city and doesn't cry out loud enough, then "the men of the city shall stone her to death." 22:23-24
If a woman is raped in the country, then only the man shall die (since there was no one to hear her if she cried out.) 22:25
If a man rapes an unbetrothed virgin, he must pay her father 50 shekels of silver and then marry her. 22:28-29
God says not be bring any whore into the house of the Lord. For "these things are an abomination to the Lord." 23:17-18
If a man marries a woman and later finds "some uncleanness in her," then he can divorce her and kick her out of his house. If another man marries her and then dies, the first husband cannot marry her again. "For that is an abomination before the Lord." 24:1-4
If a man dies before his wife has a child, then the widow must marry her husband's brother -- whether she likes him or not, and whether she wants to or not. 25:5
If two men fight and the wife of one grabs the "secrets" of the other, "then thou shalt cut off her hand" and "thine eye shall not pity her." 25:11-12
"Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife, because he uncovereth his father's skirt." (Why?) How does having sex with the father's wife uncover the father's skirt? Well, I guess it's because the father owns his wife. So the offense is against him, not her. 27:20
"The tender and delicate woman" will be forced to eat her own children "that cometh out from between her feet." 28:56-57
Joshua
Caleb offers to give his daughter to whoever conquers the city of Debir. Caleb's nephew wins the contest and is given his cousin for a prize. 15:16-17
Judges
Caleb offers to give his daughter to anyone who conquers the city of Debir. Caleb's nephew wins the contest and is given his cousin for a prize. 1:12-13
"Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two?" 5:30
Gideon had 70 sons (no one knows how many daughters) "for he had many wives 8:30
After being hit in the head with a millstone thrown by a woman, a soldier orders his armor bearer to kill him so that no one would say that a woman had killed him. 9:53-54
When "the spirit of the Lord" comes upon Jephthah, he makes a deal with God: If God will help him kill the Ammonites, then he (Jephthah) will offer to God as a burnt offering whatever comes out of his house to greet him. God keeps his end of the deal by providing Jephthah with "a very great slaughter." But when Jephthah returns, his nameless daughter comes out to greet him (who'd he expect, his wife?). Well, a deal's a deal, so he delivers her to God as a burnt offering -- after letting her spend a couple of months going up and down on the mountains bewailing her virginity. 11:29-39
Manoah's nameless wife, like so many biblical women, is barren. But an angel fixes that, and Samson is born. 13:2-3, 6, 9
Samson sees a Philistine woman and tells his parents to "get her for me; for she pleaseth me well." 14:1-3
"If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle."
Samson called his wife a heifer. 14:18
Samson's father-in-law gave Samson's wife away to a friend, since he thought Samson "hated" her. He suggests that Samson take his younger daughter instead, saying the younger one's prettier anyway. 15:2
After taking in a traveling Levite, the host offers his virgin daughter and his guest's concubine to a mob of perverts (who want to have sex with his guest). The mob refuses the daughter, but accepts the concubine and they "abuse her all night." The next morning she crawls back to the doorstep and dies. The Levite puts her dead body on an ass and takes her home. Then he chops her body up into twelve pieces and sends them to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 19:22-30
To find wives for the Benjamites (they were unwilling to use their own daughters), the other tribes attacked and killed all occupants of a city except for the young virgins. These virgins were then given to the Benjamites for wives. 21:7-23
Ruth
Ruth does as Naomi says, and then at midnight Boaz wakes up and finds Ruth "at his feet." He asks who she is, and she says, "I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore your skirt over thine handmaid." 3:7-9
Boaz purchases Ruth to be his wife. 4:10
1 Samuel
"He [Samuel's father] had two wives." Once again, by its silence, the Bible endorses polygamy. 1:2
"The Lord had shut up her [Hannah's] womb." Why? The Bible doesn't say. Maybe God had nothing better to do. 1:5
"And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her [he probably said something like, "Oh yeah, she's the one whose womb I shut up."]. And Hannah conceived and "bare a son [Oh boy, another boy!], and called his name Samuel." 1:19-20
David and Saul have a contest to see who can kill the most people for God, and the women act as cheerleaders saying, "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." 18:6-7, 21:11, 29:5
David kills 200 Philistines and brings their foreskins to Saul to buy his first wife (Saul's daughter Michal). Saul had only asked for 100 foreskins, but David was feeling generous. 18:25-27
The priest tells David that he and his men can eat the "hallowed" bread if "they have kept themselves at least from women." David assures the priest that they have and that "the vessels of the young men are holy." So it'd be OK for them to eat the holy bread. 21:4-5
"And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died." This was convenient for David who then took his property and his wife, Abigail. 25:38
David takes his second wife (Abigail) after God killed her husband (Nabal). He also, at the same time, took another wife (#3), Abinam. In the meantime, Saul gave Michal (his daughter and David's first wife) to another man. 25:41-44
David just keeps getting more wives. God doesn't seem to mind a bit. 30:5
2 Samuel
David, by this time, has at least seven wives (Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, and Ehlah), and he was just getting started. 3:2-5
David says, "deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines." Well, he actually paid with two hundred foreskins (see 1 Sam.18:25-27). 3:14
Michal was bought by David with 200 Philistine foreskins (1 Sam.18:25-27), then she was "given" to Phatiel (1 Sam.25:44), and then "taken back" by David. Poor Phatiel must have loved her dearly since he "went along weeping behind her." 3:15-16
"And David took him more concubines and wives." (How many? God knows I suppose, but he doesn't tell us in the Bible.) 5:13
David sees a woman (Bathsheba) bathing and likes what he sees. so he sends for her and commits adultery with her "for she was purified from her uncleanness." She conceives and bears a son (of course). 11:2-5
David tells Joab (his captain) to send Bathseba's husband (Uriah) to "the forefront of the hottest battle ... that he may be smitten and die." In this way, David gets another wife. 11:15, 11:17, 11:27
God gave the wives of king Saul to David. 12:7-8
God is angry at David for having Uriah killed. As a punishment, he will have David's wives raped by his neighbor while everyone else watches. It turns out that the "neighbor" that God sends to do his dirty work is David's own son, Absalom (16:22). 12:11-12
To punish David for having Uriah killed, God kills Bathsheba's baby boy. 12:14-18
After Bathsheba's baby is killed by God, David comforts her by going "in unto her." She conceives and bears another son (Solomon). 12:24
Ammon (David's son) says to his half-sister Tamar, "Come lie with me, my sister." But she resists, so he rapes her and then sends her away. Tamar, knowing that she now belongs to him (since she was a virgin), expects him to marry her, but he refuses. 13:1-22
David leaves ten of his concubines home to clean house. 15:16
Absalom "went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel." This was according the God's plan as announced in 2 Sam.12:11-12. 16:21-22
To punish his ten concubines for being raped by his son, Absalom (See 16:21-22), David refuses to ever again have sex with them and forces them to "keep house" for the rest of their lives. 20:3
1 Kings
Old King David tries to get some heat by having a beautiful virgin minister unto him. 1:1-4
"King Solomon loved many strange women. And he had 700 wives and 300 concubines." God didn't mind the number so much; it was their strangeness that he objected to. 11:1-3
Note that Solomon is told to stay away from foreign women. Why? Because they have different ("strange") religious beliefs, and God disapproves of mixed-faith marriages. 11:2
The wisest man that ever lived (1 Kg.4:31) was misled by his wives into worshipping other gods. 11:4, 15:3
Jezebel (Ahab's "strange" wife) "stirred up" Ahab to "work wickedness in the sight of the Lord." to punish her, God vows that "the dogs shall eat Jezebel." 21:23, 25
2 Kings
King Menahem rips up all the pregnant women in Tizzah "because they opened not to him." Does God approve of such acts? It's impossible to tell from this passage; the mass murder is simply reported without editorial comment. 15:16
1 Chronicles
"And Tamar his daughter in law bore him Pharez...." See Gen.38 for all the sordid details. 2:4
Ashur had two wives, continuing the long line of biblical polygamists. 4:5
"And David took more wives" with the apparent approval of God. 14:3
2 Chronicles
Solomon's Egyptian wife can't be around holy places. Is that because she is a woman or because she is an Egyptian, or both? 8:11
Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines. Once again, if silence implies consent, then God must approve of such arrangements. 11:21
"But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives." Apparently, in the eyes of God, a man's status is determined by the number of wives that he possesses. 13:21
"Jehoiada took for him two wives" -- without comment, complaint, or criticism from the bible. 24:3
Ezra
The Israelites offend God by "taking" foreign wives and thereby corrupting "the holy seed." 9:2
Ezra tells the men that they must abandon their wives and children if they are to avoid God's wrath. 10:2-3, 10-12
Nehemiah
Nehemiah rebukes the men for marrying "strange wives." To punish them he "contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair." 13:25-27
Esther
King Ahasuerus throws a party and encourages his guests to drink to excess. Then, when they are all drunk, he orders Queen Vashti to show her stuff before him and his guests. 1:7-11
Vashti refuses to entertain the king's drunken guests by dancing before them. For this she is no longer to be queen, to be replaced by someone better (prettier?). 1:12-19
Because of Vashti's disobedience, the king decrees that "all the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both the great and the small" and "that every man should bear rule over his own house." 1:20-22
"All the fair young virgins" throughout the kingdom are brought before the king, and the one that "pleaseth" the king the most will replace Vashti. 2:2-4
When it was Esther turn to "go in unto the king," she pleases the king the most. So, having won the sex contest, she is made queen in Vashti's place. 2:8-9, 12-17
Since women are inherently dirty, the woman that "pleased the king" the most must be "purified" for twelve months before she can be made queen. 2:9-12
Job
Job's wife rightly says that if Job is to keep his integrity, then he should curse God (for playing vicious games with Satan) and die. Job replies that she is talking like a "foolish woman." 2:9-10
Speaking of births, Job says: "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean. Not one." So according to the Bible, women are dirty (sinful), giving birth is dirty (sinful), and the newborn baby is dirty (sinful). 14:4
After God (or Satan) kills Job's first set of kids (1:19), he is given an even better set -- with even prettier daughters! 42:13-15
Psalms
"In sin did my mother conceive me." God considers both women and sex to be sinful. 51:5
God sent a plague on the Israelites for "committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab." But "then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment [by throwing a spear through a newly married couple]: and so the plague was stayed." But not before 24,000 (1 Cor.10:8 says 23,000) had died. (See Num.25:6-9 for all the gory details.) 106:29-30
Proverbs
God warns us about the dangers of "strange women." Strange men are OK though. 2:16-19
The feet of strange women "go down to death," and "her steps take hold on hell." 5:3-5
Watch out for those evil, strange, and whorish women. 6:24-26
A woman that seduces a man is evil -- the man is just an innocent victim. 7:5-27
We are warned again about "foolish women" who are "simple" and "knoweth nothing," who drag their guests into "the depths of hell." 9:13-18
A fair woman without discretion is like a golden jewel in a pig's snout. 11:22
Avoid living with "brawling" women. 21:9, 25:24
Try not to live with "contentious" or "angry" women. 21:19
"Strange women" have "deep pits" for mouths into which fall those whom God hates. 22:14
"Whores" and "strange women" lie around waiting to trap innocent men. 23:27-28
Don't even look at any "strange women." If you do, you will utter perverse things. 23:33
"Contentious women" are like "a continual dropping on a very rainy day." There are no contentious men. Well, maybe there are a few, but they are like sunny spring days. 27:15
Adulterous women eat, wipe their mouths, and say "what a good girl am I." 30:20
One of the four things that the earth cannot bear is: an odious woman when she is married." 30:21, 23
Don't give your strength to women. 31:3
"Who can find a virtuous woman?" Virtuous men are much more common. 31:10
Ecclesiastes
"But a woman among all those have I not found."
The Preacher could find a few good men (maybe one in a thousand or so), but not a single good woman. 7:28
Song of Solomon
"There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number." 6:8
Isaiah
Isaiah shows his contempt for women by saying that things have gotten so bad for his people that "women rule over them." 3:12
God will "smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion" and "will discover their secret parts" since he doesn't like the way they dress and walk. 3:16-17
After God takes away the women's jewelry and perfume, "discovers their secret parts," and makes them all bald and stinking, he'll kill their husbands. Women will then become so desperate that "seven women will take hold of one man, saying ... let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." 4:1
After God "washed away the filth" from the women and killed the men, he set up "a cloud and smoke by day" and a "flaming fire by night." 4:4-5
Egypt will become weakened and frightened "like unto women." 19:16
Talking about graven images Isaiah says, "thou shalt cast them away as a menstrous cloth." 30:22
"Tremble, ye women that are at ease .. strip you, and make you bare ... They shall lament for the teats." 32:6
Jeremiah
Jeremiah insults people by calling them "harlots" who have sex on every hill and under every tree. 2:20
God compares Jerusalem's sinful ways to a promiscuous woman, or a wild donkey in heat. 2:24
"Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?" This is meant to be a rhetorical question with an obvious answer: Of course not; women think only about their clothes. 2:32
A divorced woman is "polluted" when she remarries. The man, of course, remains perfectly clean through it all, even though he was the one who "put her away" in the first place. 3:1
"In the ways thou hast sat for them ..." A woman can't even sit anymore without being condemned by God. 3:2
Jeremiah loves to insult people. His favorite insult is to call someone a whore. In this verse he accuses Judah of having a "whore's forehead." 3:3
More talk of harlots who have sex under every tree. 3:6
Judah commits adultery with "stocks and stones." 3:9
"Thou ... hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree." 3:13
"As a wife treacherously departeth from her husband ..." If a woman leaves her husband, she is "treacherous," but a man is blameless when he "puts her away" for no reason. 3:20
God threatens to punish the men by taking away all of their property, including their wives, and giving them to others. 6:12
To punish men, God will "give their wives unto others." 8:10
God compares the destruction of Jerusalem to the rape of a woman who deserves to be raped because she has sinned. 13:22
God plans to expose Jerusalem's private parts to the world by lifting her skirt over her head, so to speak. He's seen her commit whoredoms and abominations and whatnot on the hills, and he's getting darned sick of it! 13:26-27
"Have you forgotten ... the wickedness of your wives?" Jeremiah blames it all on "the wickedness" of the Israelites' wives. 44:9
God is going to do some really bad things to the people because the women burned incense to the "Queen of Heaven" (Mary?). 44:15-23
God will cause the daughters of Rabbah to be burned with fire. 49:2
God plans to make the Babylonian men "become like women." (A fate worse than death to a misogynous god.). 50:37
Lamentations
Jerusalem is compared to a naked woman who sighs and turns backward. "Her filthiness is in her skirts." 1:8-9
The adversary puts his hand upon "all her pleasant things. 1:10
"Jerusalem is as a menstrous woman." (To God this is an insult.) 1:17
God mercilessly kills everyone, young and old. He even causes women to eat their children. 2:20-22
God "accomplishes his fury" by making women eat their children. 4:10-11
When God gets angry at you he calls you a drunken whore. 4:21
Ezekiel
God sends a "man clothed with linen" to mark the foreheads of the men who will be saved. Apparently only men are considered good enough to keep, the others (unmarked men, "maids", little children, and women) are to be slaughtered. God says he'll "fill the courts with the slain" and will have pity on no one. 9:4-10
"Woe to the woman that sew pillows ... Behold, I am against your pillows." (God likes neither woman nor pillows.) 13:18-21
God dresses up Jerusalem, cleans off the blood that she was wallowing in, and compliments her on her nice hair and breasts. 16:6-7, 22
Jerusalem was a harlot who had sex with everyone that passed by. 16:15-16
"Thou hast ... madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them." 16:17
"Thou ... hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by." 16:25
"Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh." (Jerusalem had sex with Egyptians with big penises.) 16:26
Jerusalem still wasn't satisfied after having sex with the well-endowed Egyptians (v.26), so she had sex with the Assyrians too. Yet she still wasn't satisfied. So she had sex with the men of Canaan and Chaldea, but still was not satisfied. 16:28-29
God calls Jerusalem "an imperious whorish woman." 16:30
God says that Jerusalem has sex with strangers, hiring them to "come in unto thee on every side." 16:32-33
Because she is such a filthy harlot, God will expose her nakedness before all of her lovers. 16:35-36
After exposing her nakedness, God will give her "blood in fury and jealousy" and strip her naked once more. 16:38-41
A good man never gets near a menstruating woman. 18:5-6
Information from God about discovering the nakedness of fathers, committing adultery with neighbor's wives, sex with menstruating women, daughters-in-law, sisters, etc. 22:1-11
Two sisters were guilty of "committing whoredoms" by pressing their breasts and bruising "the teats of their virginity." As a punishment, one sister's nakedness was discovered, her children were taken from her, and she was killed by the sword. And the fate of the surviving sister was even worse: Her nose and ears were cut off, she was made to "pluck off" her own breasts, and then after being raped and mutilated, she is stoned to death. 23:1-49
God kills Ezekiel's wife and then tells him not to mourn her. 24:15-18
God says he will destroy Tyrus. He plans to kill everyone, but he is especially looking forward to killing all of the women. "And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD." 26:1-21
In condemning Israel God says, "their way was before me as the uncleanliness of a removed woman." 36:16-17
Hosea
God tells Hosea to commit adultery, saying "take ... a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms" because the land has "committed great whoredom." So Hosea did as God commanded and "took" a wife named Gomer. 1:2-3
God (or Hosea?) tells his children that their mother is a whore who is not his wife. He asks them to tell their mother to "put away her whoredoms" and "her adulteries from between her breasts" or he'll "strip her naked ... and slay her with thirst." 2:2-3
God "will not have mercy upon ... the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot." 2:4-5
God says he "will discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers." 2:10
God acts like a jealous lover. 2:13
God tells Hosea to "love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress." 3:1
So Hosea buys a wife for 15 pieces of silver and one and a half homers of barley. 3:2
Committing whoredom by going a whoring with the spirit of whoredom. 4:10
If you misbehave, God will make your daughters "commit whoredom" and your wife "commit adultery." 4:13
Israel has "gone a whoring" and has "loved a reward upon every cornfloor." 9:1
God will induce miscarriages and kill the children of Ephraim. 9:11-12
"O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts." 9:14
"I will slay even the beloved fruit of their womb." 9:16
God will punish Israel by "dashing" together mothers and their children. 10:14
Because the Samaritans chose to worship another deity, God will dash their infants to pieces and their "women with child shall be ripped up." 13:16
Amos
"A man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name." 2:7
Amos tells Amaziah that his wife will become a whore, his children will be killed, and he'll die in a pagan country. 7:17
Micah
"I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand." 5:12
Nahum
God will "discover thy skirts upon thy face, ... show the nations thy nakedness" and "will cast abominable filth upon thee."3:4-6
"You're all a bunch of women" was the biggest insult God could think of at the moment. 3:13
Zephaniah
"Woe to her that her that is filthy and polluted." (Only women are filthy and polluted.) 3:1
Zechariah
Evil is personified as a woman. 5:7-8
God will make "all nations" fight against Jerusalem. The women will be "ravished." 14:1-2
Matthew
Jesus says that divorce is permissible when the wife is guilty of fornication. But what if the husband is unfaithful? Jesus doesn't seem to care about that. 5:32, 19:9
When Jesus' mother wants to see him, Jesus asks, "Who is my mother?" 12:47-49
Abandon your wife and children for Jesus and he'll give you a big reward. 19:29
"Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." Why? Does God especially hate pregnant and nursing women? 24:19
Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins who went to meet their bridegroom. 25:1
Mark
Jesus shows disrespect for his mother and family by asking, "Who is my mother, or my brethren?" when he is told that his family wants to speak with him. 3:31-34
Jesus will reward men who abandon their wives and families. 10:29-30
In the last days God will make things especially rough on pregnant women. 13:17
Luke
Even Mary had to be "purified" after giving birth to Jesus. Was she defiled by giving birth to the Son of God? 2:22
Males are holy to God, not females. 2:23
Peter and his partners (James and John) abandon their wives and children to follow Jesus. 5:11
Jesus, when told that his mother and brothers want to see him, ignores and insults them by saying that his mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. 8:20-21
Abandon your wife and family for Jesus and he'll give you a big reward. 18:29-30
John
Jesus tells Mary Magdalene not to touch him because he hasn't yet ascended -- as if the touch of a woman would defile him and somehow prevent him from ascending into heaven. 20:17
Romans
Paul explains that "the natural use" of women is to act as sexual objects for the pleasure of men. 1:27
"Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church."
The Revised Standard Version calls Phoebe a "deaconess", which would make would make her a church leader. If the RSV translation is correct, this verse contradicts the requirement that women not be permitted to teach and that they must be silent in church. (1 Cor.14:34-35, 1 Tim.2:11-12). 16:1
"Junia ... of note among the apostles"
Was there a woman apostle? That is how some interpret this verse and use it to justify a more active role for women in the church. 16:7
1 Corinthians
Paul would prefer that no one marry. but he says "to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife." 7:1-2
"Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife." 7:27
Paul says "the head of the woman is the man," meaning that the women are to be subordinate to men. 11:3
If a woman refuses to cover her head in church, then her her head must be shaved. 11:5-6
Men are made in the image of God; women in the image of men. Women were created from and for men. 11:7-9
Every women should have power on her head because of the angels. 11:10
Women are commanded by Paul to be silent in church and to be obedient to men. He further says that "if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in church." 14:34-35
Ephesians
Wives must to their husbands "in every thing" as though they were Christ. "For the husband is the head of the wife." 5:22-24
Wives must reverence their husband. 5:33
Colossians
Wives, according to Paul, must themselves to their husbands. 3:18
1 Timothy
Women are to dress modestly, "with shamefacedness" -- "not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array." 2:9
"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." 2:11-12
Men are superior to women since Adam was made before, and sinned after, Eve. But even though women are inferior to men, they shouldn't be discouraged because they shall "be saved in childbearing." 2:14-15
"A bishop must be ... the husband of one wife." Apparently, it's OK for laymen to have several. 3:2
Real widows are "desolate" and pray "night and day." But those widows that experience pleasure are "dead while [they] live." 5:5-6
You should help a widow only if she 1) is over 60 years old, 2) had only one husband, 3) has raised children, 4) has lodged strangers, 5) has "washed the saints feet," 6) has relieved the afflicted, and 7) has "diligently followed very good work." Otherwise, let them starve. "But the younger widows refuse [to help]: for ... they will marry; having damnation." Besides the young widows are always idle tattlers -- "busybodies, spreading things which they ought not." He adds that "some are already turned aside after Satan." 5:9-15
2 Timothy
In the last days, "silly women" who are "ever learning" will be "led away with divers lusts." 3:6-7
Titus
A bishop should have only one wife. I guess it's OK for laymen to have several. 1:6-7
"Teach the young women to be ... obedient to their own husbands." 2:4-5
1 Peter
Peter orders all wives to be "in subjection" to their husbands. 3:1
Wives are to use "chaste conversation, coupled with fear." They are not to braid their hair, wear gold, or put on any "apparel." They are to do these things in imitation of the "holy" women of the Old testament who were "in subjection to their won husbands: even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord." 3:2-6
In relation to her husband, the wife is "the weaker vessel." 3:7
2 Peter
Lot, who in Gen.19:8 offers his two virgin daughters to a crowd of angel rapers and later (19:30-38) impregnates them, was a "righteous man." 2:8
1 John
John writes to the men (fathers) only. Women (mothers?) are not important enough to address. 2:13-14
Revelation
Jezebel (whom God had thrown off a wall, trampled by horses, and eaten by dogs [2 Kg.9:33-37]) is further reviled by John, saying "that woman Jezebel" taught and seduced God's "servants to commit fornication." 2:20
Jesus will "cast her [Jezebel] into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her." 2:22
Only 144,000 celibate men will be saved. (Those who were not "defiled with women.") 14:1-4
Drinking the wine of her fornication. 14:8
The great whore has "committed fornication" with all the kings on earth. Everyone else is "drunk with the wine of her fornication." She sits on a scarlet colored beast with the usual 7 heads and 10 horns. She carries a cup full of the "filthiness of her abominations" and has a big sign on her forehead saying: "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth." You'll know her when you see her. 17:1-5
"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs." 17:6
"All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her." 18:3
The "great whore" corrupted the earth with her fornication. 19:2
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