Word study
Divorce
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: divorce, divorced, divorces. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “divorce” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 6 times of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb · Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19Full study and all 783 verses →
Deuteronomy 22:19 They are also to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given a virgin of Israel a bad name. And she shall remain his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.
1 Chronicles 8:8 Shaharaim had sons in the country of Moab after he had divorced his wives Hushim and Baara.
- גָּרַשׁ gârashdrive out, cast outtranslated this way 5 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s H1644Verb · Translated: drive 14, drove 7, banished 4, driven 3Full study and all 45 verses →
Leviticus 21:7 A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
Numbers 30:9 Every vow a widow or divorced woman pledges to fulfill is binding on her.
- כְּרִיתוּת kerîthûthdivorcementtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H3748Noun · Translated: divorce 2Full study and all 2 verses →
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 was sent away.
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.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀπολύω apolýōI release, let go, send away, divorcetranslated this way 12 times of its 66 uses · Strong’s G630Verb · Translated: release 20, released 8, dismissed 7, divorces 6Full study and all 61 verses →
Matthew 1:19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly.
Mark 10:2 Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired.
- ἀποστάσιον apostásionrepudiation, divorcetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G647Noun · Translated: divorce 2, certificate of divorce 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 5:31 It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
Mark 10:4 They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
- ἀφίημι aphíēmiI send away, release, remit, forgive, permittranslated this way 3 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s G863Verb · Translated: left 36, forgive 22, forgiven 22, let 12Full study and all 130 verses →
1 Corinthians 7:11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
1 Corinthians 7:12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If a brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about divorce: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.