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.
This is one of Jesus's most debated and emotionally weighted statements. He is responding to the Pharisees — religious leaders who were testing him — who asked whether a man could legally divorce his wife for any reason. Jewish law at the time, based on a passage in Deuteronomy, was interpreted by some teachers to permit men to divorce their wives very easily, leaving women with virtually no legal protection. Jesus challenges this directly, saying that divorce — except in cases of marital unfaithfulness, translated from the Greek word "porneia" meaning sexual immorality — followed by remarriage constitutes adultery. This was a shockingly high standard for his time and actually elevated women's dignity by limiting how casually they could be discarded. The verse is brief but carries enormous weight for millions of people navigating real marriages, real betrayal, and real pain.
God, relationships are hard and love is costly, and I don't always get it right. Forgive me where I've been careless with people who deserved better. Give me the courage to love with more steadiness, more honesty, and more grace — the same grace you extend to me every day. Amen.
This is the kind of verse that lands differently depending on where you're sitting. If you're in a solid marriage, it reads like bedrock — a high and serious commitment that means something. If you're divorced, or have been betrayed, or are quietly staying in something that's breaking you, it lands much harder. It's worth knowing that Jesus said this to protect people — specifically women — who were being casually discarded in a culture that gave them almost no legal standing. He isn't drawing a line to condemn; he's drawing a line around human dignity and saying: these people, these vows, this life you've built with someone — it matters. But this verse has also been used as a weapon, and that deserves honesty. There are people who stayed in genuinely dangerous situations because words like these were misapplied, and that is not what Jesus is after. Whatever your circumstances — married, divorced, single, or somewhere complicated — the deeper call here is the same: take love seriously. Take people seriously. Don't treat commitment as disposable or other people as replaceable. That call to a higher seriousness about covenant and human dignity doesn't condemn you wherever you've been. It asks more of you going forward.
Why do you think Jesus gave such a strict answer on divorce, especially given the cultural context where women were often left unprotected and without recourse?
How does your own experience — of a strong marriage, a broken one, or watching someone close to you go through divorce — shape the way you hear this verse?
This verse has caused real pain for people who are divorced. How do you hold both the high standard Jesus sets and the reality of human failure, brokenness, and the grace that covers it?
How does the way you treat your closest relationships reflect — or fall short of — the kind of serious, committed love this verse is pointing toward?
What is one concrete way you could invest more intentionally in the health of your most important relationship this week — romantic, familial, or otherwise?
The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 7:39
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
And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
Mark 10:11
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
1 Peter 3:7
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."
AMP
And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
ESV
'And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.'
NASB
I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
NIV
And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
NKJV
And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery — unless his wife has been unfaithful. ”
NLT
I'm holding you to the original plan, and holding you liable for adultery if you divorce your faithful wife and then marry someone else. I make an exception in cases where the spouse has committed adultery."
MSG