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.
Jesus is speaking here in what's known as the Sermon on the Mount — a long teaching where he repeatedly takes familiar religious laws and deepens them. In first-century Jewish culture, a man could divorce his wife for relatively minor reasons, leaving her economically and socially vulnerable. A divorced woman would often have no choice but to remarry just to survive. Jesus pushes back hard on the casual dismissal of wives, arguing that easy divorce sets off a chain of harm that reaches far beyond the couple. He acknowledges one exception — marital unfaithfulness — but his deeper concern is protecting people who get discarded.
Lord, relationships are complicated and people get hurt in ways they don't always see coming. Give me the courage to take commitment seriously, and the humility to recognize how my choices ripple into others' lives. Where I've caused harm — knowingly or not — show me how to make it right. And for those carrying the weight of broken marriages, let them feel your grace before they feel judgment. Amen.
Marriages end for a thousand different reasons — some devastating, some slow, some quiet. And this verse lands hard for a lot of people. Maybe you've been divorced. Maybe your parents were. Maybe someone you love is walking through one right now. Jesus isn't issuing a checklist here — he's defending the vulnerable. In that era, a wife had almost no legal standing. Being divorced meant poverty, shame, and social death. Jesus was calling out men who treated marriage as a convenience and women as disposable. The tension in this verse is real, and it shouldn't be smoothed over. It's both a call to take commitment seriously and a reminder that careless decisions rarely hurt only us — they ripple outward into lives we may not even see. But if you've walked through divorce, this isn't a verse meant to bury you in shame. Jesus also spent time with people carrying their most complicated stories. The question this verse asks isn't "did you fail?" but "are you honoring the people in your life as people — not problems to be solved or discarded?"
What does the cultural context of first-century divorce law help you understand about what Jesus was really defending here — and does that context shift how you've read this verse before?
Have divorce or broken commitments — your own or someone close to you — shaped how you view marriage and long-term commitment today? In what ways?
Jesus seems more concerned with harm done to vulnerable people than with rule-keeping. Does that reframing change how you've understood this teaching?
How does this verse challenge the common assumption that our personal relationship choices are primarily our own business and don't significantly affect others?
Is there a relationship in your life where you've been treating commitment as optional? What would one honest step toward repair or clarity look like 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 and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
1 Corinthians 7:11
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 whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Matthew 7:24
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
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
He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Matthew 19:8
but I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on grounds of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.
AMP
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
ESV
but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for [the] reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
NASB
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
NIV
But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.
NKJV
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.
NLT
Too many of you are using that as a cover for selfishness and whim, pretending to be righteous just because you are 'legal.' Please, no more pretending. If you divorce your wife, you're responsible for making her an adulteress (unless she has already made herself that by sexual promiscuity). And if you marry such a divorced adulteress, you're automatically an adulterer yourself. You can't use legal cover to mask a moral failure.
MSG