Matthew 5:31

Divorce

5:31 “It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.’ ¹ 

Deuteronomy 24:1-4

24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive ²  in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house. 24:2 When she has left him ³  she may go and become someone else’s wife. 24:3 If the second husband rejects ⁴  her and then divorces her, ⁵  gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies, 24:4 her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry ⁶  her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. ⁷  You must not bring guilt on the land ⁸  which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Isaiah 50:1

50:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate

by which I divorced her?

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? ⁹ 

Look, you were sold because of your sins; ¹⁰ 

because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 3:8

3:8 She also saw ¹²  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ¹³  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ¹⁴  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ¹⁵ 

Mark 10:4

10:4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” ¹⁶ 

[5:31]  ¹ sn A quotation from Deut 24:1.

[24:1]  ² tn Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in Deut 23:14). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).

[24:2]  ³ tn Heb “his house.”

[24:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.

[24:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”

[24:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”

[24:4]  ⁷ sn The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.

[24:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).

[50:1]  ⁹ sn The Lord challenges the exiles (Zion’s children) to bring incriminating evidence against him. The rhetorical questions imply that Israel accused the Lord of divorcing his wife (Zion) and selling his children (the Israelites) into slavery to pay off a debt.

[50:1]  ¹⁰ sn The Lord admits that he did sell the Israelites, but it was because of their sins, not because of some debt he owed. If he had sold them to a creditor, they ought to be able to point him out, but the preceding rhetorical question implies they would not be able to do so.

[50:1]  ¹¹ sn The Lord admits he did divorce Zion, but that too was the result of the nation’s sins. The force of the earlier rhetorical question comes into clearer focus now. The question does not imply that a certificate does not exist and that no divorce occurred. Rather, the question asks for the certificate to be produced so the accuser can see the reason for the divorce in black and white. The Lord did not put Zion away arbitrarily.

[3:8]  ¹² tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew ms, some Greek mss, and the Syriac version. The MT reads “I saw” which may be a case of attraction to the verb at the beginning of the previous verse.

[3:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.

[3:8]  ¹⁴ tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.

[3:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

[10:4]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “to divorce.” The pronoun has been supplied in the translation for clarity.