And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
This verse comes from a larger conversation in Mark 10 where the Pharisees — religious leaders who often tested Jesus — asked whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife. In the Jewish culture of first-century Israel, divorce laws almost exclusively benefited men; a woman had little to no legal standing to initiate a divorce and could be left destitute with few options. Jesus responds by pointing back to God's original design for marriage in Genesis, emphasizing permanence and covenant. Then, in a private moment with his disciples, Jesus adds this symmetric statement: a woman who divorces her husband and remarries is held to the same standard. This was countercultural — Jesus was applying equal moral accountability to both men and women in a society where women were often treated as property.
Jesus, you take covenant seriously because you are a covenant-keeper. Where this verse brings pain, bring your gentleness. Where it brings conviction, bring your grace. Teach me to love the people in my life with the kind of faithful, honest, enduring love that reflects yours. Amen.
Before you let the weight of this verse land on you — and depending on your story, it may land hard — notice something: Jesus says this privately, to his disciples, after the Pharisees who were trying to trap him had gone. He was not scoring legal points or building a case against the hurting. He was talking to people he loved about something that tears people apart. The context here is protection, not condemnation. In a world where a man could casually discard his wife with a legal document and move on, Jesus draws a line and says: both of you are accountable. Covenant is not a one-way door. That was radical then, and it still cuts in all directions now. If you carry pain around divorce — your own, your parents', a marriage that failed despite everything you tried — this verse may feel more like a wound than a word right now. Bring that honestly to God. Jesus spoke about marriage because he cares about people, not because he wanted another way to shame the hurting. The hard teaching and the tender heart exist together in him, even when we can only feel one at a time.
What do you think Jesus was trying to protect or establish by applying the same standard to both men and women, in a culture that only held women accountable?
How do you hold the tension between Jesus's high view of marriage and the reality that many people — including deeply committed believers — have experienced divorce?
Does this verse land for you right now more as a moral standard, a personal wound, or something else entirely? What does that reaction reveal about where you are?
How might this teaching shape the way you walk alongside a friend going through separation or divorce — without minimizing either the truth or their pain?
What does faithfulness in covenant — whether in marriage, close friendship, or your community — look like practically in your own life this week?
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
Luke 16:18
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 unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
1 Corinthians 7:10
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Genesis 2:24
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:14
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Romans 7:3
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
and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
AMP
and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
ESV
and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.'
NASB
And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
NIV
And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
NKJV
And if a woman divorces her husband and marries someone else, she commits adultery.”
NLT
And a woman who divorces her husband so she can marry someone else commits adultery."
MSG