⭐WEB · Matthew 5:32
What does Matthew 5:32 mean?
"but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery."
— Matthew 5:32 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
“Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’
but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Explanation
Matthew 5:32 records Jesus teaching that a man who divorces his wife for any reason other than sexual immorality causes her to become an adulteress, and that anyone who marries a woman in that situation also commits adultery. In plain terms, Jesus is saying that improperly ending a marriage sets in motion further sin — it doesn't simply dissolve an obligation, but creates a chain of moral consequences for the people involved.
This verse comes from the Sermon on the Mount, specifically within a series of statements where Jesus takes commonly
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