Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just 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?
- BSB Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
- 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?”
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 10:2Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
- Heb 3:9where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my deeds for forty years.
- Luke 11:53–54As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him;
- Mark 12:15Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.”
- Matt 22:35One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.
- Matt 22:16–18They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.
- Matt 16:1The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
- Matt 5:31–32“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
- John 8:6They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.
- Mark 12:13They sent some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words.
- Mal 2:14–16Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh 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.
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Original language
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