Divorce
24 passages listed in Nave’s Topical Bible and Torrey’s New Topical Textbook. Verse text: Berean Standard Bible; links open in your translation.
20 sections
- Disobedience of the Wife to the Husband, a Sufficient Cause For, in the Persian Empire
- Figurative
- Forbidden by Christ Except for Adultery
- Forced on Those Who had Idolatrous Wives
- General Scriptures Concerning
- Illustrative of God's Casting off of the Jewish Church
- Jews Condemned for Love of
- Law of Marriage Against
- Not Allowed to Those Who Falsely Accused Their Wives
- Often Sought by the Jews
- Permitted by the Mosaic Law
- Permitted: On Account of Hardness of Heart
- Priests not to Marry Women After
- Prohibition of, offended the Jews
- Sought on Slight Grounds
- Women: Afflicted By
- Women: Could Marry After
- Women: Could Obtain
- Women: Married After, Could not Return to First Husband
- Women: Responsible for Vows After
Disobedience of the Wife to the Husband, a Sufficient Cause For, in the Persian Empire
- Esther 1:10–22 On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him — Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas — …
Figurative
- Isaiah 50:1 This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother …
- Isaiah 54:4 Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
- Jeremiah 3:8 She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
Forbidden by Christ Except for Adultery
- Matthew 5:32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
- Matthew 19:9 Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Forced on Those Who had Idolatrous Wives
- Ezra 10:2–17 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, an Elamite, said to Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the people of the land, yet in spite of this, there is hope for Israel. …
- Nehemiah 13:23 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
- Nehemiah 13:30 Thus I purified the priests and Levites from everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites.
General Scriptures Concerning
- Exodus 21:7–11 And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do. …
- Deuteronomy 21:10–14 When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive, …
- Deuteronomy 24:1–4 If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house. …
- Ezra 10:1–16 While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and falling facedown before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites — men, women, and children — gathered around him, and the people wept bitterly as well. …
- Nehemiah 13:23–30 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. …
- Jeremiah 3:1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers — and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
- Micah 2:9 You drive the women of My people from their pleasant homes. You take away My blessing from their children forever.
- Malachi 2:14–16 Yet 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. …
- Matthew 5:31–32 It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ …
- Matthew 19:3–12 Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” …
- Mark 10:2 Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired.
- Luke 16:18 Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
- 1 Corinthians 7:10–17 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. …
Illustrative of God's Casting off of the Jewish Church
- Isaiah 50:1 This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother …
- Jeremiah 3:8 She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
Jews Condemned for Love of
- Malachi 2:14–16 Yet 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. …
Law of Marriage Against
- Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
- Matthew 19:6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
Not Allowed to Those Who Falsely Accused Their Wives
- Deuteronomy 22:18–19 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him. …
Often Sought by the Jews
- Micah 2:9 You drive the women of My people from their pleasant homes. You take away My blessing from their children forever.
- Malachi 2:14 Yet 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.
Permitted by the Mosaic Law
- Deuteronomy 24:1 If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.
Permitted: On Account of Hardness of Heart
- Matthew 19:8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart. But it was not this way from the beginning.
Priests not to Marry Women After
- Leviticus 21:14 He is not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people,
Prohibition of, offended the Jews
- Matthew 19:10 His disciples said to Him, “If this is the case between a man and his wife, it is better not to marry.”
Sought on Slight Grounds
- Matthew 5:31 It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
- Matthew 19:3 Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
Women: Afflicted By
- Isaiah 54:4 Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
- Isaiah 54:6 For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.
Women: Could Marry After
- Deuteronomy 24:2 If, after leaving his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife,
Women: Could Obtain
- Proverbs 2:17 who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
- Mark 10:12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Women: Married After, Could not Return to First Husband
- Deuteronomy 24:3–4 and the second man hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house, or if he dies, …
- Jeremiah 3:1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers — and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
Women: Responsible for Vows After
- Numbers 30:9 Every vow a widow or divorced woman pledges to fulfill is binding on her.
Related topics
Divorce of Servants, Regulated by LawDivorce of Captives, Regulated by LawVashtiMemucanHusbandEzra
Topics: Nave’s Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey’s New Topical Textbook (1897), public domain, via the Berean Bible topical index.