20 Bible Verses about Divorce

Also, in those days, I have seen the Jews who have settled women of Ashdod, of Ammon, of Moab.

And Shechaniah son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answereth and saith to Ezra, 'We -- we have trespassed against our God, and we settle strange women of the peoples of the land; and now there is hope for Israel concerning this, and now, let us make a covenant with our God, to cause all the women to go out, and that which is born of them, by the counsel of the Lord, and of those trembling at the command of our God, and according to law it is done; rise, for on thee is the matter, and we are with thee; be strong, and do.' read more.
And Ezra riseth, and causeth the heads of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear to do according to this word -- and they swear. And Ezra riseth from before the house of God, and goeth unto the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib; yea, he goeth there, bread he hath not eaten, and water he hath not drunk, for he is mourning because of the trespass of the removal. And they cause a voice to pass over into Judah and Jerusalem, to all sons of the removal, to be gathered to Jerusalem, and every one who cometh not in by the third day, according to the counsel of the heads and of the elders, all his substance is devoted, and himself separated from the assembly of the removal. And gathered are all the men of Judah and Benjamin to Jerusalem by the third day, it is the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sit in the broad place of the house of God, trembling on account of the matter and of the showers. And Ezra the priest riseth, and saith unto them, 'Ye -- ye have trespassed, and ye settle strange women, to add to the guilt of Israel; and, now, make confession to Jehovah, God of your fathers, and do His good pleasure, and be separated from the peoples of the land, and from the strange women.' And all the assembly answer and say with a great voice, 'Right; according to thy word -- on us to do; but the people are many, and it is the time of showers, and there is no power to stand without, and the work is not for one day, nor for two, for we have multiplied to transgress in this thing. Let, we pray thee, our heads of all the assembly stand, and all who are in our cities, who have settled strange wives, do come in at the times appointed, and with them the elders of city and city, and its judges, till the turning back of the fury of the wrath of our God from us, for this thing.' Only Jonathan son of Asahel, and Jahaziah son of Tikvah, stood against this, and Meshullam, and Shabbethai the Levite, helped them. And the sons of the removal do so, and Ezra the priest, and men, heads of the fathers, for the house of their fathers, are separated, even all of them by name, and they sit on the first day of the tenth month, to examine the matter; and they finish with all the men who have settled strange women unto the first day of the first month.

And I have cleansed them from every stranger, and appoint charges to priests and to Levites, each in his work,

'And I say to you, that, whoever may put away his wife, if not for whoredom, and may marry another, doth commit adultery; and he who did marry her that hath been put away, doth commit adultery.'

'And it was said, That whoever may put away his wife, let him give to her a writing of divorce; but I -- I say to you, that whoever may put away his wife, save for the matter of whoredom, doth make her to commit adultery; and whoever may marry her who hath been put away doth commit adultery.

and he saith to them, 'Whoever may put away his wife, and may marry another, doth commit adultery against her; and if a woman may put away her husband, and is married to another, she committeth adultery.'

They say to him, 'Why then did Moses command to give a roll of divorce, and to put her away?' He saith to them -- 'Moses for your stiffness of heart did suffer you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it hath not been so.

And the Pharisees, having come near, questioned him, if it is lawful for a husband to put away a wife, tempting him, and he answering said to them, 'What did Moses command you?' and they said, 'Moses suffered to write a bill of divorce, and to put away.' read more.
And Jesus answering said to them, 'For the stiffness of your heart he wrote you this command, but from the beginning of the creation, a male and a female God did make them;

'And I say to you, that, whoever may put away his wife, if not for whoredom, and may marry another, doth commit adultery; and he who did marry her that hath been put away, doth commit adultery.'

but I -- I say to you, that whoever may put away his wife, save for the matter of whoredom, doth make her to commit adultery; and whoever may marry her who hath been put away doth commit adultery.

And the Pharisees came near to him, tempting him, and saying to him, 'Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?'

'And it was said, That whoever may put away his wife, let him give to her a writing of divorce;

therefore doth a man leave his father and his mother, and hath cleaved unto his wife, and they have become one flesh.

so that they are no more two, but one flesh; what therefore God did join together, let no man put asunder.'

Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And the covenant of her God hath forgotten.

and if a woman may put away her husband, and is married to another, she committeth adultery.'

Thus said Jehovah: 'Where is this -- the bill of your mother's divorce, Whom I sent away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Lo, for your iniquities ye have been sold, And for your transgressions Hath your mother been sent away.

And I see when (for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery) I have sent her away, and I give the bill of her divorce unto her, that treacherous Judah her sister hath not feared, and goeth and committeth fornication -- she also.

'And when a man selleth his daughter for a handmaid, she doth not go out according to the going out of the men-servants;

and if these three he do not to her, then she hath gone out for nought, without money.

And desolate cities they cause to be inhabited. Fear not, for thou art not ashamed, Nor blush, for thou art not confounded, For the shame of thy youth thou forgettest, And the reproach of thy widowhood Thou dost not remember any more.

For, as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Called thee hath Jehovah, Even a youthful wife when she is refused, said thy God.

Thus said Jehovah: 'Where is this -- the bill of your mother's divorce, Whom I sent away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Lo, for your iniquities ye have been sold, And for your transgressions Hath your mother been sent away.

And I see when (for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery) I have sent her away, and I give the bill of her divorce unto her, that treacherous Judah her sister hath not feared, and goeth and committeth fornication -- she also.

And desolate cities they cause to be inhabited. Fear not, for thou art not ashamed, Nor blush, for thou art not confounded, For the shame of thy youth thou forgettest, And the reproach of thy widowhood Thou dost not remember any more.

And ye have said, 'Wherefore?' Because Jehovah hath testified between thee And the wife of thy youth, That thou hast dealt treacherously against her, And she thy companion, and thy covenant-wife.

The women of My people ye cast out from its delightful house, From its sucklings ye take away My honour to the age.

and to the married I announce -- not I, but the Lord -- let not a wife separate from a husband: but and if she may separate, let her remain unmarried, or to the husband let her be reconciled, and let not a husband send away a wife.

'And the elders of that city have taken the man, and chastise him, and fined him a hundred silverlings, and given to the father of the damsel, because he hath brought out an evil name on a virgin of Israel, and she is to him for a wife, he is not able to send her away all his days.

and turned aside the raiment of her captivity from off her, and hath dwelt in thy house, and bewailed her father and her mother a month of days, and afterwards thou dost go in unto her and hast married her, and she hath been to thee for a wife: And it hath been -- if thou hast not delighted in her, that thou hast sent her away at her desire, and thou dost not at all sell her for money; thou dost not tyrannize over her, because that thou hast humbled her.

and the latter man hath hated her, and written for her a writing of divorce, and given it into her hand, and sent her out of his house, or when the latter man dieth, who hath taken her to himself for a wife: Her former husband who sent her away is not able to turn back to take her to be to him for a wife, after that she hath become defiled; for an abomination it is before Jehovah, and thou dost not cause the land to sin which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee -- an inheritance.

When a man doth take a wife, and hath married her, and it hath been, if she doth not find grace in his eyes (for he hath found in her nakedness of anything), and he hath written for her a writing of divorce, and given it into her hand, and sent her out of his house, and she hath gone out of his house, and hath gone and been another man's, and the latter man hath hated her, and written for her a writing of divorce, and given it into her hand, and sent her out of his house, or when the latter man dieth, who hath taken her to himself for a wife: read more.
Her former husband who sent her away is not able to turn back to take her to be to him for a wife, after that she hath become defiled; for an abomination it is before Jehovah, and thou dost not cause the land to sin which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee -- an inheritance.

When a man doth take a wife, and hath married her, and it hath been, if she doth not find grace in his eyes (for he hath found in her nakedness of anything), and he hath written for her a writing of divorce, and given it into her hand, and sent her out of his house,

and she hath gone out of his house, and hath gone and been another man's,

widow, or cast out, or polluted one -- a harlot -- these he doth not take, but a virgin of his own people he doth take for a wife,

And ye have said, 'Wherefore?' Because Jehovah hath testified between thee And the wife of thy youth, That thou hast dealt treacherously against her, And she thy companion, and thy covenant-wife. And He did not make one only, And He hath the remnant of the Spirit. And what is the one alone! He is seeking a godly seed. And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And with the wife of thy youth, None doth deal treacherously. For I hate sending away, said Jehovah, God of Israel, And He who hath covered violence with his clothing, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have been watchful over your spirit, And ye do not deal treacherously.

His disciples say to him, 'If the case of the man with the woman is so, it is not good to marry.'

He saith to them -- 'Moses for your stiffness of heart did suffer you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it hath not been so.

'As to the vow of a widow or cast-out woman, all that she hath bound on her soul is established on her.

On the seventh day, as the heart of the king is glad with wine, he hath said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who are ministering in the presence of the king Ahasuerus, to bring in Vashti the queen before the king, with a royal crown, to shew the peoples and the heads her beauty, for she is of good appearance, and the queen Vashti refuseth to come in at the word of the king that is by the hand of the eunuchs, and the king is very wroth, and his fury hath burned in him. read more.
And the king saith to wise men, knowing the times -- for so is the word of the king before all knowing law and judgment, and he who is near unto him is Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, Memucan, seven heads of Persia and Media seeing the face of the king, who are sitting first in the kingdom -- According to law, what -- to do with queen Vashti, because that she hath not done the saying of the king Ahasuerus by the hand of the eunuchs?' And Memucan saith before the king and the heads, 'Not against the king by himself hath Vashti the queen done perversely, but against all the heads, and against all the peoples that are in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus; for go forth doth the word of the queen unto all the women, to render their husbands contemptible in their eyes, in their saying, The king Ahasuerus said to bring in Vashti the queen before him, and she did not come; yea, this day do princesses of Persia and Media, who have heard the word of the queen, say so to all heads of the king, even according to the sufficiency of contempt and wrath. If to the king it be good, there goeth forth a royal word from before him, and it is written with the laws of Persia and Media, and doth not pass away, that Vashti doth not come in before the king Ahasuerus, and her royalty doth the king give to her companion who is better than she; and the sentence of the king that he maketh hath been heard in all his kingdom -- for it is great -- and all the wives give honour to their husbands, from great even unto small.' And the thing is good in the eyes of the king, and of the princes, and the king doth according to the word of Memucan, and sendeth letters unto all provinces of the king, unto province and province according to its writing, and unto people and people according to its tongue, for every man being head in his own house -- and speaking according to the language of his people.

'Every one who is sending away his wife, and marrying another, doth commit adultery; and every one who is marrying her sent away from a husband doth commit adultery.

Hast thou been bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed; hast thou been loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

and now, let us make a covenant with our God, to cause all the women to go out, and that which is born of them, by the counsel of the Lord, and of those trembling at the command of our God, and according to law it is done;

'And it was said, That whoever may put away his wife, let him give to her a writing of divorce;

When a man doth take a wife, and hath married her, and it hath been, if she doth not find grace in his eyes (for he hath found in her nakedness of anything), and he hath written for her a writing of divorce, and given it into her hand, and sent her out of his house,

'Every one who is sending away his wife, and marrying another, doth commit adultery; and every one who is marrying her sent away from a husband doth commit adultery.

Hast thou been bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed; hast thou been loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

and now, let us make a covenant with our God, to cause all the women to go out, and that which is born of them, by the counsel of the Lord, and of those trembling at the command of our God, and according to law it is done;

'And it was said, That whoever may put away his wife, let him give to her a writing of divorce;

When a man doth take a wife, and hath married her, and it hath been, if she doth not find grace in his eyes (for he hath found in her nakedness of anything), and he hath written for her a writing of divorce, and given it into her hand, and sent her out of his house,