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19 Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,[a] yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:19 A righteous man: as a devout observer of the Mosaic law, Joseph wished to break his union with someone whom he suspected of gross violation of the law. It is commonly said that the law required him to do so, but the texts usually given in support of that view, e.g., Dt 22:20–21 do not clearly pertain to Joseph’s situation. Unwilling to expose her to shame: the penalty for proved adultery was death by stoning; cf. Dt 22:21–23.

19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.

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19 Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately.

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19 And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to [a](A)send her away secretly.

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  1. Matthew 1:19 Or divorce her

19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[a] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce(A) her quietly.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 1:19 Or was a righteous man and