Deuteronomy 21:15
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New International Version (©1984)
If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love,

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
A man might have two wives and love one but not the other. Both wives might have children, and the firstborn son might belong to the wife that the man doesn't love.

King James Bible
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:

American King James Version
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:

American Standard Version
If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated;

Bible in Basic English
If a man has two wives, one greatly loved and the other hated, and the two of them have had children by him; and if the first son is the child of the hated wife:

Douay-Rheims Bible
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and the other hated, and they have had children by him, and the son of the hated be the firstborn,

Darby Bible Translation
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and one hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and the firstborn son be hers that was hated;

English Revised Version
If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated;

Webster's Bible Translation
If a man shall have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated:

World English Bible
If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers who was hated;

Young's Literal Translation
'When a man hath two wives, the one loved and the other hated, and they have borne to him sons (the loved one and the hated one), and the first-born son hath been to the hated one;

Geneva Study Bible

If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another {g} hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:

(g) This declares that the plurality of wives came from a corrupt affection.

Wesley's Notes

21:15 Two wives - This practice, though tolerated, is not hereby made lawful; but only provision is made for the children in this case. Hated - Comparatively, that is, less loved.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15-17. If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated-In the original and all other translations, the words are rendered "have had," referring to events that have already taken place; and that the "had" has, by some mistake, been omitted in our version, seems highly probable from the other verbs being in the past tense-"hers that was hated," not "hers that is hated"; evidently intimating that she (the first wife) was dead at the time referred to. Moses, therefore, does not here legislate upon the case of a man who has two wives at the same time, but on that of a man who has married twice in succession, the second wife after the decease of the first; and there was an obvious necessity for legislation in these circumstances; for the first wife, who was hated, was dead, and the second wife, the favorite, was alive; and with the feelings of a stepmother, she would urge her husband to make her own son the heir. This case has no bearing upon polygamy, which there is no evidence that the Mosaic code legalized.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:15-17 This law restrains men from disinheriting their eldest sons without just cause. The principle in this case as to children, is still binding to parents; they must give children their right without partiality.


Genesis 29:33 Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, "Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also." So she named him Simeon. (NASB ©1995)

Bear Belongs Beloved Born Borne Child Children Disliked Hated Hers Loved Unloved Wife Wives


If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:

two wives Ge 29:18,20,30,31,33 1Sa 1:4,5

Bible Gateway: Deuteronomy Chapter 21 Verse 15 NIV ESV NKJV NLT KJV Message Amplified

Alphabetical: a and bear belongs borne both but does firstborn has have he him If is love loved loves man not of one other son sons the to two unloved wife wives

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