Divorce

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningExodus 21:7–11Deuteronomy 21:10–14Deuteronomy 24:1–4Ezra 10:1–16Nehemiah 13:23–30Jeremiah 3:1Micah 2:9Malachi 2:14–16Matthew 5:31Matthew 5:32Matthew 19:3–12Mark 10:2Luke 16:181 Corinthians 7:10–17
• Disobedience of the wife to the husband, a sufficient cause for, in the Persian empireEsther 1:10–22
• See Marriage
• FIGURATIVEIsaiah 50:1Isaiah 54:4Jeremiah 3:8

The passages, in Bible order (18)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Exodus 21:7–11

   And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 21:7–111 voice

   “A man might, in accordance with existing custom, sell his daughter to another man with a view to her becoming an inferior wife, or concubine. In this case, she was not “to go out,” like the bondman; that is, she was not to be dismissed at the end of the sixth year. But women who were bound in any other way, would appear to have been under the same conditions as bondmen. See Deu 15:17.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 21:7–11→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Deuteronomy 21:10–14

   When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 21:10–141 voice

   “But nevertheless I also intellectually have "gone out to war against my enemies, and I saw there" in the plunder "a woman with a beautiful figure." Whatever we find said well and reasonably among our philosophical enemies, or we read anything said among them wisely and knowingly, we must cleanse it. We must remove and cut off all that is dead and worthless. It is as if one were trimming the hairs of the head and the nails of the woman taken from the spoils of the enemy. Only then would you take her as a wife.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 21:10–14→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Deuteronomy 24:1–4

   If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Ezra 10:1–16

   While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and falling facedown before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him, and the people wept bitterly as well.

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Nehemiah 13:23–30

   In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

   ›Commentary on Nehemiah 13:23–301 voice

   “In those days also I saw Jews that married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab. Ashdod, or Azotus, as it is called in Act 8:40, was one of the five cities of the Philistines; which, though none of the seven nations with whom marriage was forbid, yet it was very unfit and improper to marry with them, Jdg 14:

   Everything gathered on Nehemiah 13:23–30→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Esther 1:10–22

   On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas—

   ›Commentary on Esther 1:10–221 voice

   “He commanded Mehuman - All these are doubtless Persian names; but so disguised by passing through a Hebrew medium, that some of them can scarcely be known. Mehuman signifies a stranger or guest. We shall find other names and words in this book, the Persian etymology of which may be easily traced.

   Everything gathered on Esther 1:10–22→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Isaiah 50:1

   This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 50:12 voices

   “(Chapter 50, Verse 1) Thus says the Lord: Who is this bill of divorce of your mother, whom I have sent away? Or to whom have I sold you? Behold, because of your iniquities you were sold, and because of your sins your mother was sent away. For I came and there was no man; I called, and there was none to answer. LXX: Thus says the Lord: What is this bill of divorce of your mother, whom I have sent away? Or to whom have I sold you, to the creditor and exactor of me?

   “Thus saith the Lord - To the Jews in Babylon, who were suffering under his hand, and who might be disposed to complain that God had dealt with them with as much caprice and cruelty as a man did with his wife, when he gave her a writing of divorce, and put her away without any just cause. Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement? - God here speaks of himself as the husband of his people, as having married the church to himself, denoting the tender affection which he had for his people.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 50:1→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Isaiah 54:4

   Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 54:41 voice

   “(Verse 4, 5.) Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be ashamed, for you will not be disgraced. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. LXX: Do not be afraid, for you have been put to shame; do not be disgraced, for you have been reproached.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 54:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Jeremiah 3:1

   “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 3:11 voice

   “(Chapter III - Verse 1) It is commonly said (for which the Seventy have translated 'only said'). If a man divorces his wife and she goes and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be considered defiled and polluted? (or that land?) And you have committed adultery with many lovers (or shepherds.) For the word 'Reim' (), which is written with four letters Res, Ain, Yod, Mem, signifies both lovers and shepherds. And if we read Reim, it means lovers; if Roim, it means shepherds.

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 3:1→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Jeremiah 3:8

    She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.

    ›Commentary on Jeremiah 3:82 voices

    “Rather, “And I saw” that because apostate “Israel” had “committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her” the writing of her divorcement, “yet” false “Judah her sister feared not.”...The expression, “For all the causes whereby,” is probably the actual formula with which writings of divorcement commenced.

    "And the faithless Judah did not fear, and she went and played the harlot herself also." Israel having played the harlot first, Judah too played the harlot afterward. "And her fornication became as nothing, and she committed adultery with wood and stone." Whenever we sin, we do nothing else than, becoming stony-hearted, commit adultery with "the stone." Whenever we sin and play the harlot "beneath every leafy tree," we too commit adultery with "the wood." "And the faithless Judah did not turn to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood."

    Everything gathered on Jeremiah 3:8→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Micah 2:9

    You drive the women of My people from their pleasant homes. You take away My blessing from their children forever.

    ›Commentary on Micah 2:91 voice

    “The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses,.... Not content to slay their husbands, they took their wives or widows captive, dispossessed them of their habitations, where they had lived delightfully with their husbands and children; so we find that, at the time before referred to, the people of Israel carried captive of their brethren two hundred thousand women, and brought them to Samaria, 2Ch 28:

    Everything gathered on Micah 2:9→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Malachi 2:14–16

    Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

    ›Commentary on Malachi 2:14–162 voices

    “Ye say, Wherefore? - Is the Lord angry with us? Because ye have been witness of the contract made between the parties; and when the lawless husband divorced his wife, the wife of his youth, his companion, and the unite of his covenant, ye did not execute on him the discipline of the law. They kept their wives till they had passed their youth, and then put them away, that they might get young ones in their place.

    “(v. 13 ff.) And you have done this again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping and groaning, so that I will no longer look upon your sacrifices or accept anything pleasing from your hands. Yet you ask, 'Why?' Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have despised, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did not one God create us all? Did not one God give us life and breath? And what does one seek, except the seed of God?

    Everything gathered on Malachi 2:14–16→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Matthew 5:31

    It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’

    ›Commentary on Matthew 5:311 voice

    “(Vers. 31 seqq.) However, it is said: Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. In the later part, the Savior explains this place more fully, that Moses commanded the certificate of divorce to be given because of the hardness of the hearts of the husbands, not granting a separation, but removing homicide.

    Everything gathered on Matthew 5:31→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Matthew 5:32

    But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

    ›Commentary on Matthew 5:322 voices

    “(Vers. 31 seqq.) However, it is said: Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. In the later part, the Savior explains this place more fully, that Moses commanded the certificate of divorce to be given because of the hardness of the hearts of the husbands, not granting a separation, but removing homicide.

    “But another reason, too, conspires; nay, not another, but (one)which imposed the law of "the beginning," and moved the will of God to prohibit divorce: the fact that (he)who shall have dismissed his wife, except on the ground of adultery, makes her commit adultery; and (he) who shall have married a (woman) dismissed by her husband, of course commits adultery. A divorced woman cannot even marry legitimately; and if she commit any such act without the name of marriage, does it not fall under the category of adultery, in that adultery is crime in the way of marriage?

    Everything gathered on Matthew 5:32→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Matthew 19:3–12

    Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

    ›Commentary on Matthew 19:3–121 voice

    “The Pharisees came - See the notes at Mat 3:7. Tempting him - This means, to get him, if possible, to express an opinion that should involve him in difficulty. Is it lawful ... - There was the more art in the captious question which they proposed, as at that time the people were very much divided on the subject. A part, following the opinions of Hillel, said that a man might divorce his wife for any offence, or any dislike he might have of her. See the notes at Mat 5:

    Everything gathered on Matthew 19:3–12→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. Mark 10:2

    Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired.

    Verse page →Original language →