Everyone who divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
Parallel translations
- KJV Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
- BSB Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
- NKJV “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.
- NASB “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
- NLT “For example, a man who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus declares that divorcing one's spouse to marry another is adultery, affirming the law's high view of marriage.
Overview
Against the lax divorce practices of His day, Jesus upholds the permanence of marriage as an example of the law that will not fall (v.17). Faithful Christians have long differed over the precise scope and exceptions (compare Matthew 19), but all agree Jesus here exalts God's design for marriage and condemns its casual breaking.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Matt 19:9I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”
- Mark 10:11–12He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her.
- Matt 5:31–32“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
- 1 Cor 7:10–12But to the married I command — not I, but the Lord — that the wife not leave her husband
- 1 Cor 7:4The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 16:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.