29 Bible Verses about divorce, in OT

Most Relevant Verses

Mark 10:4

So they said, "Moses permitted [a man] to write a certificate of divorce and to send [her] away."

Matthew 19:7

They said to him, "Why then did Moses command [us] to give a document--a certificate of divorce--and to divorce her?"

Leviticus 22:12-13

And a priest's daughter, when {she marries a layman}, she herself may not eat {the votive offering}. But a priest's daughter, when she becomes a widow or divorced or there is no offspring for her, and she returns to her father's house as [in] her childhood, she may eat from her father's food, but {no layman may eat it}.

Deuteronomy 22:13-19

"If a man takes a woman and {he has sex with her}, but [he] then {dislikes her}, and {he accuses her falsely}, and {he defames her}, and he says 'This woman I took and I lay with her and {I discovered that she was not a virgin},' then [in defense] the father of the young woman shall take, along with her mother, and [together] they must bring out the [evidence of] the virginity of the young woman [to display it] to the elders of the city {at the city gate}.read more.
And [then] the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he [now] {dislikes} her, and now look {he has accused her falsely}, saying, "I did not find {your daughter a virgin}," but here [is] [evidence of] the virginity of my daughter'; and they shall spread the cloth [out] {before} the elders of the city. Then the elders of that city shall take the man, and they shall discipline him. Then they shall fine him hundred [shekels of] silver, and they shall give [them] to the father of the young woman, for {he defamed an Israelite young woman}, and {she shall become his wife}; he will not be allowed {to divorce her} all his days.

Numbers 30:9

"But the vow of a widow or a woman who is divorced, all that she binds on herself will stand on her.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29

"If a man finds a young woman, a virgin [who] is not engaged, and he seizes her and {he has sex with her} and they are caught, then {the man who lay with her} shall give to the father of the young woman fifty [shekels] of silver, and she shall become {his wife} {because} he violated her, and he is not allowed to divorce her {during his lifetime}.

Deuteronomy 24:1-2

"When a man takes a wife and he marries her {and then} {she does not please him}, because he found {something objectionable} and writes her a letter of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her [away] from his house, and she goes from his house, and she goes [out] and becomes [a wife] {for another man},

Deuteronomy 24:3-4

and [then] the second man dislikes her and he writes her a letter of divorce and places [it] into her hand and sends her from his house, or if the second man dies who took her {to himself} as a wife, her first husband who sent her [away] is not allowed {to take her again} to become a wife to him after she has {been defiled}, for that [is] a detestable thing {before} Yahweh, and [so] you shall not mislead into sin the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance.

Hosea 2:2

Plead with your mother, plead-- because she [is] not my wife, and I [am] not her husband. Let her put away her whoring {from before her}, and her adultery from between her breasts.

Matthew 5:31

"And it was said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'

Jeremiah 3:1

A {saying}: 'Look, [if] a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him {and she becomes another man's wife}, will he return to her again?' Will not that land be greatly defiled? And you have prostituted [yourself] [with] many lovers, [would] you now return to me?" {declares} Yahweh.

Malachi 2:10-16

{Do we not all have} one father? Has not one God created us? Why [then] are we unfaithful {to one another}, profaning the covenant of our ancestors? Judah has been faithless, and a detestable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has profaned the sanctuary of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. May Yahweh cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, [the] one who is awake and [who] answers, and [the one who] brings an offering to Yahweh of hosts!read more.
And this you do {as well}: [you] cover the altar of Yahweh [with] tears, [with] weeping and [with] groaning, because he {no longer regards the offering} or accepts [it] [with] favor from your hand. But you ask, "{For what reason}?" Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she [is] your marriage partner and {your wife by covenant}. {Did not one God make them?} But a remnant of [the] spirit is his. And what does the one [God] desire? An offspring of God. {You must be attentive to} your spirit, and you must not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. "For hate divorce," says Yahweh, the God of Israel, "and he [who] covers his clothing [with] violence," says Yahweh of hosts. "{You must be attentive to} your spirit and you must not be unfaithful."

Leviticus 21:7

" 'They shall not {marry} a woman [who is] a prostitute and defiled, nor shall they {marry} a woman divorced from her husband, because each priest [is] holy for his God.

Matthew 19:4-8

And he answered [and] said, "Have you not read that the one who created [them] from the beginning made them male and female and said, 'On account of this a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."read more.
They said to him, "Why then did Moses command [us] to give a document--a certificate of divorce--and to divorce her?" He said to them, "Moses, with reference to your hardness of heart, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not like this.

Ezekiel 44:22

And a widow or divorced [woman] they shall not take for themselves as wives, {but only} a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or the widow who is a widow for a priest they may take.

Mark 10:5-9

But Jesus said to them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart. But from the beginning of creation 'he made them male and female. Because of this a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife,read more.
and the two will become one flesh,' so that they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."

Jeremiah 3:6-10

Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted [herself] there. And I thought, 'After her doing all these [things] to me she will return,' but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw [it]. And I saw that {for this very reason, that} on account of apostate Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted [herself] also.read more.
And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree. Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, {but only} in pretense," {declares} Yahweh.

Isaiah 50:1

Thus says Yahweh: "Where [is] this divorce document of your mother's divorce, [with] which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.

Jeremiah 31:32

not like the covenant that I {made} with their ancestors on the day of my grasping [them] by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," {declares} Yahweh.

Isaiah 54:4-8

You must not fear, for you will not be ashamed, and you must not be confounded, for you will not feel abashed, 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, his name [is] Yahweh of hosts; and your redeemer [is] the holy one of Israel, he is called the God of all of the earth. For Yahweh has called you like a wife forsaken and hurt of spirit, like [the] wife of childhood when she is rejected, says your God.read more.
I abandoned you {for a short} moment, but I will gather you with great compassion. I hid my face from you [for] a moment, in the flowing of anger, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting faithfulness" says your redeemer, Yahweh.

Deuteronomy 24:1

"When a man takes a wife and he marries her {and then} {she does not please him}, because he found {something objectionable} and writes her a letter of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her [away] from his house,

Deuteronomy 21:13-14

And she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in your house, and she shall mourn her father and her mother {a full month}, and after this {you may have sex with her}, and you may marry her, and she may {become your wife}. And then if you do not take delight in her, then you shall let her go {to do whatever she wants}, but you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

Isaiah 62:4-5

It shall no longer be said of you, "Forsaken," and it shall no longer be said of your land, "Desolation!" but {you will} be called "My Delight [Is] In Her," and your land, "Married," for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall be married. For [as] a young man marries a virgin, [so] shall your sons marry you, and [as is the] joy of [the] bridegroom over [the] bride, [so] shall your God rejoice over you.

Matthew 19:3

And Pharisees came up to him [in order to] test him, and asked if it was permitted for a man to divorce his wife for any cause.

Ezekiel 16:60-63

And I, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you {an everlasting covenant}. And you will remember your ways, and you will be ashamed when you take your sisters, {both the older and the younger}, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of your covenant. And I, I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh,read more.
in order that you will remember, and you will be ashamed, and {you will not open your mouth again} {because of} your disgrace when I forgive you for all that you have done!'" {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

Ezra 10:10-11

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have broke faith and married foreign women, increasing the guilt of Israel. Now make a confession to Yahweh the God of your ancestors and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women."

Hosea 2:14-16

Therefore, Look! I [am] going to allure her and bring her [into] the desert, and {I will speak tenderly to her}. From there I will give her her vineyards, and the Valley of Achor as a doorway of hope. And there she will respond, as [in] the days of her youth, just as [in] the day of her coming out of the land of Egypt. {And on that day}-- a declaration of Yahweh-- you will call me, "My husband;" you will no longer call me, "My Baal."

Ezra 10:2-3

Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, "We ourselves have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, and even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all of these women and their offspring, according to the advice of my lord and those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

Never miss a post

Related Readings