Mark 10:4
in Mark 10They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
KJV
And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
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This verse in Mark 10
Commentary
9 notes on this verseChrist asked, What did Moses command you? They own that Moses only suffered, or permitted, a man to write his wife a bill of divorce, and to put her away, Deut. xxiv. "If you will do it, you must do it in writing, delivered into her own hand, and so put her away, and never return to her again." 4.
This site's exposition
Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife
on Mark 10:2-4
Some Pharisees tested Him with Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife, while the rabbinic schools were divided over Deuteronomy's provision. Jesus turns the test to the text: What did Moses command you.
This site's exposition
Moses permitted a man
Matthew Henry notes that the Pharisees themselves admit Moses only permitted divorce. The law in Deuteronomy 24 set terms for it. The certificate had to be written and put into the wife's own hand, and the parting was final.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(de Con. Evan. 2. 62) It makes nothing, however, to the truth of the fact, whether, as Matthew says, they themselves addressed to the Lord the question concerning the bill of divorcement, allowed to them by Moses, on our Lord's forbidding the separation, and confirming His sentence from the law, or whether it was in answer to a question of His, that they said this concerning the command of Moses, as Mark here says. For His wish was to give them no reason why Moses permitted it, before they themselves had mentioned the fact; since then the wish of the parties speaking, which is what the words ought to express, is in either way shown, there is no discrepancy, though there be a difference in the way of relating it. It may also be meant that, as Mark expresses it, the question put to them by the Lord, What did Moses command? was in answer to those who had previously asked His opinion concerning the putting away of a wife; and when they had replied that Moses permitted them to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away, (Matt. 19:4) His answer was concerning that same law, given by Moses, how God instituted the marriage of a male, and a female, saying those things which Matthew relates; on hearing which they again rejoined what they had replied to Him when He first asked them, namely, Why then did Moses command?
The Medieval Church1 voice
And when they answered that Moses commanded to divorce a wife, Christ explained to them the Law itself. Moses, He says, was not so merciless as to give such a Law, but he wrote this because of your hardness of heart. Knowing the inhumanity of …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
From the beginning of the creation - Therefore Moses in the first of Genesis gives us an account of things from the beginning of the creation. Does it not clearly follow, that there was no creation previous to that which Moses describes?
And they said,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The opening verse of this passage shows us the patient perseverance of our Lord Jesus Christ as a teacher . We are told that "Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them." Wherever our Lord went, He was always about His Father's business, preaching, teaching, and laboring to do good to souls. He threw away no opportunity. In the whole history of His earthly ministry, we never read of an idle day. Of Him it may be truly said, that He "sowed beside all waters," and that "in the morning He sowed his seed, and in the evening withheld not His hand." (Isaiah 32:20. Eccles. 11:6.) And yet our Lord knew the hearts of all men. He knew perfectly well that the great proportion of His hearers were hardened and unbelieving. He knew, as He spoke, that most of His words fell to the ground uncared for and unheeded, and that so far as concerned the salvation of souls, most of His labor was in vain. He knew all this, and yet He labored on. Let us see in this fact a standing pattern to all who try to do good to others, whatever their office may be. Let it be remembered by every minister and every missionary — by every schoolmaster and every Sunday-school teacher — by every district visitor and every lay agent — by every head of a house who has family prayers — and by every caretaker who has the charge of children. Let all such remember Christ's example, and resolve to do likewise. We are not to give up teaching, because we see no good done. We are not to relax our exertions, because we see no fruit of our toil. We are to work on steadily, keeping before us the great principle, that duty is ours, and results are God's. There must be ploughmen and sowers as well as reapers and binders of sheaves.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The opening verse of this passage shows us the patient perseverance of our Lord Jesus Christ as a teacher . We are told that "Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them." Wherever our Lord went, He was always about His Father's business, preaching, teaching, and laboring to do good to souls. He threw away no opportunity. In the whole history of His earthly ministry, we never read of an idle day.
How the passage was read
On Mark 10:2-12On Mark 10:2-12
The divorce question, translated for Rome
The test question “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?” lands in Perea, Herod Antipas's territory, where John the Baptist had just died for saying Antipas's marriage to Herodias was unlawful. Behind the question stands the recorded dispute of the Pharisaic schools over Deuteronomy 24:1: the house of Shammai allowing divorce only for unchastity, the house of Hillel for far less (“even if she spoiled his dish,” Mishnah Gittin 9:10). This site's Matthew 19 note walks that dispute; Jesus answers from creation, behind Moses.
Mark alone adds: “and if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery” (10:12). Under Jewish law of the period, the get (bill of divorce) ran from husband to wife; a wife initiating divorce was Roman law's provision, and famously what Herodias had done to her first husband. Mark, writing for Roman readers, translates the ruling into their legal world, one more instance of the New Testament doing for its first readers what this layer does for the modern one.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
The words behind it
10 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| οἱ | hoi | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | And | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| εἶπαν· | eipan | they said; | G2036 → | 925 times |
| ἐπέτρεψεν | epetrepsen | Permitted | G2010 → | |
| Μωϋσῆς | mouses | Moses | G3475 → | 78 times |
| βιβλίον | biblion | a roll | G975 → | |
| ἀποστασίου | apostasiou | of divorce | G647 → | |
| γράψαι | grapsai | to write | G1125 → | 189 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἀπολῦσαι. | apolusai | to send [her] away. | G630 → | 63 times |
οἱ<the>
hoiG3588 →19766 times
δὲAnd
deG1161 →2765 times
εἶπαν·they said;
eipanG2036 →925 times
ἐπέτρεψενPermitted
epetrepsenG2010 →
ΜωϋσῆςMoses
mousesG3475 →78 times
βιβλίονa roll
biblionG975 →
ἀποστασίουof divorce
apostasiouG647 →
γράψαιto write
grapsaiG1125 →189 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἀπολῦσαι.to send [her] away.
apolusaiG630 →63 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 19:7“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
it leads to
- 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…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 5:31
It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
- Deuteronomy 24:1–4
Through
Matthew 1:19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 22:21–24
she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous…
- John 8:4–5
and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
- Mark 6:20
because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man. When he heard John’s words, he was greatly perplexed; yet he listened to him gladly.
- Genesis 38:24
About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”
- Deuteronomy 22:21–24
Through
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…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 16:26
You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.
- Jeremiah 2:20
“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
- Ezekiel 16:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies27
On this verse
On this chapter
- The Deity of Christ
- Elders and Deacons
- Entering the Kingdom
- Barnabas, a Good Man
- The Words Tov and Agathosyne
- Why He Said He Came
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About Mark

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.
