They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send his wife away.”
Parallel translations
- WEB They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.”
- KJV And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
- BSB They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
- NKJV They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”
- NLT “Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away.”
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
They cite Moses' permission for a certificate of divorce. Their answer treats a regulated concession as if it were God's ideal.
Overview
The Pharisees point to Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which regulated divorce by requiring a written certificate. They frame this as Moses allowing divorce, focusing on permission rather than purpose. Jesus will show that this provision addressed human sinfulness and never overturned God's original plan for lifelong marriage.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Deut 24:1–4When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
- Matt 5:31–32“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
- Matt 19:7They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?”
- Matt 1:19Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.
- Isa 50:1Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
- Jer 3:1“They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should 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 Yahweh.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 10:4 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
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