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100 Bible Verses about Grounds For Divorce

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 1,266 helpful votes

“For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Matthew 5:31-32 ESV / 1,207 helpful votes

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Luke 16:18 ESV / 1,180 helpful votes

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Matthew 19:9 ESV / 1,075 helpful votes

And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 1,066 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV / 1,037 helpful votes

But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 ESV / 992 helpful votes

To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

Romans 7:2 ESV / 873 helpful votes

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 ESV / 762 helpful votes

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Matthew 5:31 ESV / 728 helpful votes

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’

Matthew 19:6 ESV / 725 helpful votes

So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 708 helpful votes

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Matthew 19:3-9 ESV / 705 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ...

Matthew 19:8 ESV / 696 helpful votes

He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

1 Corinthians 7:39 ESV / 693 helpful votes

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

Matthew 19:8-9 ESV / 593 helpful votes

He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 572 helpful votes

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 554 helpful votes

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

1 Corinthians 7:12-16 ESV / 532 helpful votes

To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 517 helpful votes

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Matthew 19:1-30 ESV / 517 helpful votes

Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ...

Mark 10:2 ESV / 484 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

1 Corinthians 7:11 ESV / 476 helpful votes

(but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 456 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Matthew 19:7 ESV / 455 helpful votes

They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 413 helpful votes

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Jeremiah 3:1 ESV / 411 helpful votes

“If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:8 ESV / 410 helpful votes

She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.

1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV / 409 helpful votes

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ...

Genesis 2:18 ESV / 406 helpful votes

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Isaiah 50:1 ESV / 403 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: “Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

1 Peter 3:1 ESV / 398 helpful votes

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,

Deuteronomy 24:1 ESV / 394 helpful votes

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house,

Mark 10:12 ESV / 388 helpful votes

And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Mark 10:9 ESV / 365 helpful votes

What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Romans 7:2-3 ESV / 364 helpful votes

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 334 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ...

Malachi 2:13-16 ESV / 325 helpful votes

And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Matthew 1:19 ESV / 320 helpful votes

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Deuteronomy 22:19 ESV / 319 helpful votes

And they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days.

Matthew 19:3 ESV / 317 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?”

Ephesians 5:33 ESV / 314 helpful votes

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Mark 10:11-12 ESV / 309 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Revelation 11:1-19 ESV / 300 helpful votes

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. ...

Mark 10:11 ESV / 291 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,

1 Corinthians 7:10 ESV / 270 helpful votes

To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband

Matthew 19:4-6 ESV / 267 helpful votes

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Malachi 2:14-16 ESV / 264 helpful votes

But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

John 3:16-17 ESV / 255 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 243 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ...

Matthew 19:4 ESV / 235 helpful votes

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

1 John 1:9 ESV / 229 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Matthew 18:15-17 ESV / 221 helpful votes

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Ephesians 5:31 ESV / 220 helpful votes

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

Acts 2:38 ESV / 217 helpful votes

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 215 helpful votes

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Ephesians 5:22 ESV / 214 helpful votes

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

Galatians 6:1 ESV / 214 helpful votes

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

1 Peter 3:3 ESV / 205 helpful votes

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—

Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 203 helpful votes

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ...

John 3:16 ESV / 198 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 15:13 ESV / 191 helpful votes

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Ephesians 5:2 ESV / 189 helpful votes

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 189 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Matthew 5:27-28 ESV / 189 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 19:2 ESV / 186 helpful votes

And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

1 John 4:8 ESV / 184 helpful votes

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Colossians 1:2 ESV / 183 helpful votes

To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

John 8:32 ESV / 183 helpful votes

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Psalm 46:10 ESV / 183 helpful votes

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

1 Timothy 5:2 ESV / 179 helpful votes

Older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 178 helpful votes

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

Luke 1:37 ESV / 178 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Matthew 5:3 ESV / 172 helpful votes

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

John 3:2 ESV / 171 helpful votes

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Deuteronomy 24:4 ESV / 167 helpful votes

Then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 166 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ...

Revelation 11:2 ESV / 164 helpful votes

But do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

Acts 2:2 ESV / 164 helpful votes

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

John 8:2 ESV / 164 helpful votes

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

Colossians 3:2 ESV / 163 helpful votes

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Mark 10:10 ESV / 162 helpful votes

And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.

John 3:17 ESV / 160 helpful votes

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Matthew 5:6 ESV / 160 helpful votes

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Matthew 18:2 ESV / 156 helpful votes

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them

1 John 4:16 ESV / 155 helpful votes

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Mark 10:19 ESV / 154 helpful votes

You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”

Matthew 18:4 ESV / 154 helpful votes

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Romans 7:3 ESV / 152 helpful votes

Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

1 John 4:4 ESV / 150 helpful votes

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 146 helpful votes

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Proverbs 3:5 ESV / 146 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Deuteronomy 24:1-22 ESV / 144 helpful votes

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken. ...

1 Corinthians 7:6 ESV / 137 helpful votes

Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.

Exodus 20:14 ESV / 133 helpful votes

“You shall not commit adultery.

1 Corinthians 7:8 ESV / 122 helpful votes

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.

Revelation 19:7-9 ESV / 118 helpful votes

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Mark 10:5 ESV / 116 helpful votes

And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV / 107 helpful votes

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Mark 10:2-9 ESV / 106 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ...

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