29 Bible Verses about divorce, in OT

Most Relevant Verses

Mark 10:4

They said, "Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her."

Matthew 19:7

They asked him, "Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce, and divorce her?"

Leviticus 22:12-13

If a priest's daughter is married to an outsider, she shall not eat of the heave offering of the holy things. But if a priest's daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father's house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father's bread: but no stranger shall eat any of it.

Deuteronomy 22:13-19

If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and hates her, and accuses her of shameful things, and brings up an evil name on her, and says, "I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I did not find in her the tokens of virginity"; then shall the father of the young lady, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the young lady's virginity to the elders of the city in the gate;read more.
and the young lady's father shall tell the elders, "I gave my daughter to this man to wife, and he hates her; and behold, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, 'I did not find in your daughter the tokens of virginity;' and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity." They shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. The elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him; and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the young lady, because he has brought up an evil name on a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

Numbers 30:9

"But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul, shall stand against her.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29

If a man find a lady who is a virgin, who is not pledged to be married, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; then the man who lay with her shall give to the lady's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

Deuteronomy 24:1-2

When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. When she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.

Deuteronomy 24:3-4

If the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and you shall not cause the land to sin, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.

Hosea 2:2

Contend with your mother. Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Matthew 5:31

"It was also said, 'Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,'

Jeremiah 3:1

"They say, 'If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again?' Wouldn't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me," says the LORD.

Malachi 2:10-16

Do we not all have one father? Hasn't one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. The LORD will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to the LORD of hosts.read more.
This again you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn't regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand. Yet you say, 'Why?' Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant. Did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with violence." says the LORD of hosts. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.

Leviticus 21:7

"'They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute, or profane; neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband: for he is holy to his God.

Matthew 19:4-8

He answered, and said, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?' So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, do not let man tear apart."read more.
They asked him, "Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce, and divorce her?" He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.

Ezekiel 44:22

Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Mark 10:5-9

But Jesus said, "For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of the creation, he made them male and female. For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife,read more.
and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

Jeremiah 3:6-10

Moreover, the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, "Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute. I said after she had done all these things, 'She will return to me;' but she did not return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, did not fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.read more.
It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense," says the LORD.

Isaiah 50:1

Thus says the LORD, "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.

Jeremiah 31:32

not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them," says the LORD.

Isaiah 54:4-8

"Do not be afraid; for you shall not be ashamed: neither be confounded; for you shall not be disappointed: for you shall forget the shame of your youth; and the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more. For your husband is your Creator; the LORD of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off," says your God.read more.
"For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving kindness will I have mercy on you," says the LORD your Redeemer.

Deuteronomy 24:1

When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

Deuteronomy 21:13-14

and she shall put the clothing of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that you shall go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her at all for money, you shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.

Isaiah 62:4-5

And you shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For just as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

Ezekiel 16:60-63

Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the LORD;read more.
that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.'"

Ezra 10:10-11

Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, "You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel. Now therefore make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women."

Hosea 2:14-16

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. It will be in that day," says the LORD, "that you will call me 'my husband,' and no longer call me 'my master.'

Ezra 10:2-3

Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered Ezra, "We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.

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