Laws Concerning Divorce

1 ^f“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, 2 and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Divorce

31 “It was also said, ⁱ‘Whoever ^jdivorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that ^keveryone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

3 And Pharisees came up to him and ^gtested him by asking, “Is it lawful to ^hdivorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning ⁱmade them male and female, 5 and said, ^j‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, ^k“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your ^lhardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: ^mwhoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”¹

2 And Pharisees came up and ^bin order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to ^cdivorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, ^d“Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” 5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your ^ehardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ^f‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ^g‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,¹ 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, ^h“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not ^rseparate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is ^smade holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, ^tthey are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you¹ to ^upeace. 16 For how do you know, wife, ^vwhether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?