The Servant, Israel’s Hope

50 Thus says the Lord:

⁸ Then I saw that ^(A)for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had ^(B)put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; ^(C)yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

²⁵ But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded ^(A)that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.

⁵ Yet now ^(A)our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we ^(B)are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”

Elisha and the Widow’s Oil^(A)

4 A certain woman of the wives of ^(B)the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming ^(C)to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

³ For thus says the Lord:

God’s Unfaithful People

⁴ They said, ^(A)“Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”

⁵ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this ^[a]precept. ⁶ But from the beginning of the creation, God ^(B)‘made them male and female.’ ^7 (C)‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

¹⁰ In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. ¹¹ So He said to them, ^(D)“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. ¹² And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”