29 Bible Verses about divorce, in OT

They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”

The Pharisees said to Him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

If a priest’s daughter is married to a layman [one not part of the priestly tribe], she shall not eat the offering of the holy things. But if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and has no child, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat her father’s food; but no layman shall eat it.

“If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then scorns and hates her, and charges her [without cause] with shameful behavior and publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ then the young woman’s father and her mother shall get and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate [where court is held]. read more.
The father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her and has turned against her; and behold, he has made baseless charges against her, saying, “I did not find in your daughter the evidence of her virginity.” But this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread out the garment before the elders of the city. Then the elders of that city shall take the man and reprimand him, and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the father of the young woman, because he publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to divorce her as long as he lives.

“But the vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, everything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.

“If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and is intimate with her and they are discovered, then the man who was intimate with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the girl’s father, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he can never divorce her.

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she loses his favor because he has found something indecent or unacceptable about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and after she leaves his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife,

and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, then her former husband who [first] sent her away may not take her again as his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an outrage before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

“Contend with your mother (nation); contend,
For she is not my wife and I am not her husband;
And have her remove her [marks of] prostitution from her face
And her adultery from between her breasts

“It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife is to give her a certificate of divorce’;

That is to say, “If a man divorces his wife
And she goes [away] from him
And becomes another man’s [wife],
Will he return to her again? [Of course not!]
Will not that land [where such a thing happened] be completely desecrated?
But you [rebelled against Me and you] are a prostitute with many lovers;
Yet you turn to Me.” says the Lord.

Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers [with God]? Judah has been treacherous (disloyal), and an repulsive act has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob to the last man those who do this [evil thing], awake and aware, even the one who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts. read more.
This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with [your own] weeping and sighing, because the Lord no longer regards your offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why [does He reject it]?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously. Yet she is your marriage companion and the wife of your covenant [made by your vows]. But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong and violence,” says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore keep watch on your spirit, so that you do not deal treacherously [with your wife].”

They shall not take [as a wife] a woman who is a prostitute, nor a woman who is divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God.

He replied, “Have you never read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined inseparably to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” read more.
The Pharisees said to Him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” He said to them, “Because your hearts were hard and stubborn Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman; but they shall marry virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow who was previously married to a priest.

But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of hearts [your callousness and insensitivity toward your wives and the provision of God] he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother [to establish a home with his wife], read more.
and the two shall become one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but [are united as] one flesh. Therefore, what God has united and joined together, man must not separate [by divorce].”

Moreover, the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king [of Judah], “Have you seen what that faithless Israel has done—how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there she was a prostitute? I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous (faithless) sister Judah saw it. And I saw [that even though Judah knew] that for all the acts of adultery (idolatry) of faithless Israel, I [the Lord] had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid; but she went and was a prostitute also [following after idols]. read more.
Because of the thoughtlessness of Israel’s prostitution [her immorality mattered little to her], she desecrated the land and committed adultery with [idols of] stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with her whole heart, but rather in [blatant] deception [she merely pretended obedience to King Josiah’s reforms],” declares the Lord.

The Lord declares this;

“Where is the certificate of divorce
By which I have sent your mother away, [O Israel]?
Or to which one of My creditors did I sell you [as slaves]?
In fact, You were sold for your wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing],
And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the Lord.

“Do not fear, for you will not be put to shame,
And do not feel humiliated or ashamed, for you will not be disgraced.
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.

“For your husband is your Maker,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the God of the whole earth.

“For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife who has been abandoned, grieved in spirit,
And like a wife [married] in her youth when she is [later] rejected and scorned,”
Says your God.
read more.

“For a brief moment I abandoned you,
But with great compassion and mercy I will gather you [to Myself again].

“In an outburst of wrath
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your Redeemer.

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she loses his favor because he has found something indecent or unacceptable about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house,

She shall take off the clothes of her captivity and remain in your house, and weep (mourn) for her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. But it shall be that if you have no delight and take no pleasure in her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes. You certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not deal with her as a slave or mistreat her, because you have humbled her [by forced marriage].

It will no longer be said of you [Judah], “Azubah (Abandoned),”
Nor will it any longer be said of your land, “Shemamah (Desolate)”;
But you will be called, “Hephzibah (My Delight is in Her),”
And your land, “Married”;
For the Lord delights in you,
And to Him your land will be married [owned and protected by the Lord].

For as a young man marries a virgin [O Jerusalem],
So your sons will marry you;
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So your God will rejoice over you.

And Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

“Nevertheless, I will remember [with compassion] My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant [with Me]. And I will establish My covenant with you, and you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord, read more.
so that you may remember [in detail] and be ashamed and never open your mouth again because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done,” says the Lord God.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful [to God] and have married foreign (pagan) women, adding to the guilt of Israel. So now, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do His will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from [your] foreign wives.”

“Therefore, behold, I will allure Israel
And bring her into the wilderness,
And I will speak tenderly to her [to reconcile her to Me].

“Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
And make the Valley of Achor a door of hope and expectation [anticipating the time when I will restore My favor on her].
And she will sing there and respond as in the days of her youth
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

“It shall come about in that day,” says the Lord,
“That you will call Me Ishi (my husband)
And will no longer call Me Baali (my Baal).

Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Therefore let us now make a covenant with our God to send away all the [foreign] wives and their children, in accordance with the advice of my lord and of those who tremble [in reverent obedience] at the commandment of our God; and let it be done in accordance with the Law.