Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
- KJV The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
- NKJV The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”
- NASB Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
- NLT Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?”
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
The Pharisees test Jesus by asking whether divorce is lawful for any reason. They hope to trap him in a divisive contemporary debate.
Overview
Rabbinic schools disagreed sharply: followers of Hillel permitted divorce for almost any cause, while followers of Shammai allowed it only for marital unfaithfulness. The Pharisees pose the question to ensnare Jesus, not to learn. His answer will go behind the controversy to God's original design for marriage.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Mark 10:2Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired.
- Heb 3:9where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.
- Luke 11:53–54As Jesus went on from there, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose Him bitterly and to ply Him with questions about many things,
- Mark 12:15But Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to inspect.”
- Matt 22:35One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question:
- Matt 22:16–18They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance.
- Matt 16:1Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven.
- Matt 5:31–32It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
- John 8:6They said this to test Him, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger.
- Mark 12:13Later, they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch Jesus in His words.
- Mal 2:14–16Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
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Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
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Original language
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