Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
Jesus is speaking directly to the Pharisees — a group of influential Jewish religious leaders who debated the legal grounds for divorce. In first-century Jewish culture, men could obtain a divorce relatively easily, and there was ongoing debate about what reasons were acceptable. Jesus cuts through those legal debates and makes a stark claim: divorce and remarriage constitute adultery — a serious moral violation under Jewish law. He's not addressing every nuance of every situation; he's confronting a culture that had made marriage disposable through legal technicalities. His words point back to God's original intent for marriage as a permanent, covenant bond rather than a contract to be exited when convenient.
Lord, you take our promises seriously, and we often don't. Forgive us for the ways we've treated commitment as negotiable and the people attached to those commitments as expendable. Give us the courage to love faithfully, and the grace to extend tenderness to those whose promises — or whose hearts — have been broken. Amen.
Before anyone feels hit by this verse, it's worth noticing who Jesus was actually talking to. He wasn't sitting across from a couple in crisis — he was confronting powerful religious men who used legal paperwork to discard their wives and call it righteous. Marriage had become transactional: a document, a dismissal, a new arrangement. Jesus doesn't engage the legal debate. He asks what happens to the person on the other end of all that paperwork. What does it do to someone when a covenant promise is treated like a lease agreement? This verse is genuinely hard. If you've lived through divorce — whether you initiated it or had it happen to you — these words can land like something cold. But Jesus wasn't handing out a verdict on every painful human situation. He was holding up a mirror to people who weaponized religion to avoid accountability. The deeper question he's pressing on is this: how seriously do you take the promises you've made to people? Not just in marriage — in friendship, in family, in every place where your word formed a bond. Covenant isn't a legal category. It's a posture of the heart.
Why do you think Jesus connected divorce so directly to adultery — what was he trying to say about the nature of marriage as a covenant rather than a contract?
How does your own experience with promises kept or broken — in marriage or elsewhere — shape the way this verse lands for you personally?
Is it possible to take the seriousness of marriage as a covenant without using this verse as a weapon against people who have gone through divorce? What does that balance actually look like in a community?
How does the way you treat the people you've made commitments to reflect who you are in your wider relationships?
Is there a promise or commitment in your life you've been treating as more disposable than it deserves? What would one honest step toward honoring it look like?
It hath been said , Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Matthew 5:31
But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Matthew 5:32
For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
Malachi 2:16
And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Mark 10:12
And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
1 Corinthians 7:10
And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
Mark 10:11
The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
1 Corinthians 7:4
And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Matthew 19:9
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.
AMP
“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
ESV
'Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
NASB
“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
NIV
“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.
NKJV
“For example, a man who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”
NLT
Using the legalities of divorce as a cover for lust is adultery; Using the legalities of marriage as a cover for lust is adultery.
MSG