Add parallel Print Page Options

Divorce

31 “It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.’[a] 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality,[b] makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Matthew 5:31 tn Or “a written notice of divorce.”sn A quotation from Deut 24:1.
  2. Matthew 5:32 sn The phrase except for immorality (often referred to as the “exception clause”) has been the subject of much debate. One of the best and most comprehensive recent studies which pays particular attention to historical background material, especially Jewish material, is that of D. Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Eerdmans, 2002).

Teaching about Divorce

31 “You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’[a] 32 But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 5:31 Deut 24:1.