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Genesis 2:23-24 "The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

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Genesis 24:7 "The Lord, the God of heaven, Who took me from my father's house, from the land of my family and my birth, Who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, To your offspring I will give this land--He will send His Angel before you, and you will take a wife from there for my son. add Genesis 24:12-24 "12And he said, O Lord, God of my master Abraham, I pray You, cause me to meet with good success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming to draw water. And let it so be that the girl to whom I say, I pray you, let down your jar that I may drink, and she replies, Drink, and I will give your camels drink also--let her be the one whom You have selected and appointed and indicated for Your servant Isaac [to be a wife to him]; and by it I shall know that You have shown kindness and faithfulness to my master. Before he had finished speaking, behold, out came Rebekah, who was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor the brother of Abraham, with her water jar on her shoulder. the girl was very beautiful and attractive, chaste and modest, and unmarried. And she went down to the well, filled her water jar, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, I pray you, let me drink a little water from your water jar. And she said, Drink, my lord; and she quickly let down her jar onto her hand and gave him a drink. When she had given him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also, until they finish drinking. So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well and drew water for all his camels. The man stood gazing at her in silence, waiting to know if the Lord had made his trip prosperous. And when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold earring or nose ring of half a shekel in weight, and for her hands two bracelets of ten shekels in weight in gold."

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Genesis 24:62-66 "Now Isaac had returned from going to the well Beer-lahai-roi [A well to the Living One Who sees me], for he [now] dwelt in the South country (the Negeb).
And Isaac went out to meditate and bow down [in prayer] in the open country in the evening; and he looked up and saw that, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel. For she [had] said to the servant, Who is that man walking across the field to meet us? And the servant [had] said, He is my master. So she took a veil and concealed herself with it. And the servant told Isaac everything that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her; thus Isaac was comforted after his mother's death"

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Genesis 29:14 - 30:10 "Then Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And [Jacob] stayed with him a month. Then Laban said to Jacob, Just because you are my relative, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be? Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak and dull looking, but Rachel was beautiful and attractive. And Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, I will work for you for seven years for Rachel your younger daughter. And Laban said, It is better that I give her to you than to another man. Stay and live with me. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Finally, Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my time is completed, so that I may take her to me. And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast [with drinking]. But when night came, he took Leah his daughter and brought her to [Jacob], who had intercourse with her. And Laban gave Zilpah his maid to his daughter Leah to be her maid. But in the morning [Jacob saw his wife, and] behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, What is this you have done to me? Did I not work for you [all those seven years] for Rachel? Why then have you deceived and cheated and thrown me down [like this]? And Laban said, It is not permitted in our country to give the younger [in marriage] before the elder. Finish the [wedding feast] week [for Leah]; then we will give you [Rachel] also, and you shall work for me yet seven more years in return. So Jacob complied and fulfilled [Leah's] week; then [Laban] gave him Rachel his daughter as his wife. (And Laban gave Bilhah his maid to Rachel his daughter to be her maid.) And Jacob lived with Rachel also as his wife, and he loved Rachel more than Leah and served [Laban] another seven years [for her]. And when the Lord saw that Leah was despised, He made her able to bear children, but Rachel was barren. And Leah became pregnant and bore a son and named him Reuben [See, a son!]; for she said, Because the Lord has seen my humiliation and affliction; now my husband will love me. [Leah] became pregnant again and bore a son and said, Because the Lord heard that I am despised, He has given me this son also; and she named him Simeon [God hears]. And she became pregnant again and bore a son and said, Now this time will my husband be a companion to me, for I have borne him three sons. Therefore he was named Levi [companion]. Again she conceived and bore a son, and she said, Now will I praise the Lord! So she called his name Judah [praise]; then [for a time] she ceased bearing. When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I will die! And Jacob became very angry with Rachel and he said, Am I in God's stead, Who has denied you children? And she said, See here, take my maid Bilhah and have intercourse with her; and [when the baby comes] she shall deliver it upon my knees, that I by her may also have children. And she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [secondary] wife, and Jacob had intercourse with her. And Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son; so she named him Dan [judged]. And Bilhah, Rachel's maid, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings [in prayer to God] I have struggled with my sister and have prevailed; so she named him [this second son Bilhah bore] Naphtali [struggled]. When Leah saw that she had ceased to bear, she gave Zilpah her maid to Jacob as a [secondary] wife. And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bore Jacob a son"

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Is boy single in God's eyes? Or is boy bound, in God's eyes to the girl with whom he had intercourse?

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Marriage is described in scripture as a covenant. In the ancient near east, a covenant was in force when the 2 parties agreed and publicly declared that agreement. The covenant is that agreement itself, and NOT the benefits and requirements that accompany it. That is why just having sex does not make a marriage, biblically speaking.

Each culture has its own ways of making a public statement of the commitment, and scripture says we are to obey the laws of the land insomuch as they do not negate or violate scripture. In the US, when a couple speaks their vows before a minister, rabbi or judge and he/she says "I now pronounce you husband and wife," you are married in God's eyes.

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We live in times where premarital relationships exist on an increasing level. Equally, couples will live together for years upon years without ever performing a ceremony or signing paper. They exist together as if they had been bound though.

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Are we bound to our spouse within our hearts or is it by act of ceremony?

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So according to the Scripture's own testimony, the wife becomes bound...in a "one-flesh" union indeed to her husband, AFTER she has been GIVEN TO HIM by her FATHER, and he takes her and enters her in a physical act ("knows her").

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ORIGINAL: shadowspring

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So according to the Scripture's own testimony, the wife becomes bound...in a "one-flesh" union indeed to her husband, AFTER she has been GIVEN TO HIM by her FATHER, and he takes her and enters her in a physical act ("knows her").

So fatherless women cannot marry? Is it different in your estimation if the father is dead or has just abandoned his daughter(s)?

Actually I don't really want an answer to this question, I just wanted to point out the folly of this patriarchal notion that women are not persons before God in their own right and only exist under the authority of a male in God's eyes.

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Actually I don't really want an answer to this question, I just wanted to point out the folly of this patriarchal notion that women are not persons before God in their own right and only exist under the authority of a male in God's eyes.

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So fatherless women cannot marry? Is it different in your estimation if the father is dead or has just abandoned his daughter(s)?

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So fatherless women cannot marry?

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Is it different in your estimation if the father is dead or has just abandoned his daughter(s)?

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But I won't answer you here, since you display an unwillingness to ask or even examine in a mature manner these things, but would rather assume too much, dishonor me and reject hands down WITHOUT investigating what it is that I actually understand about this subject. This is your choice to make of course.