Mark 10:4

4 So they said, "Moses permitted [a man] to write a certificate of divorce and to send [her] away."

Mark 10:4 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 10:4

And they said
By way of reply,

Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away,
Moses did not command them to divorce their wives, only suffered them to do so: and gave orders that if they could not bear that they should live with them, but would divorce them, that they should give them a bill, which should certify, they were so divorced, and then send them out of their houses, free to marry other men; this law, or permission, is in ( Deuteronomy 24:1 ) , of the form of a bill of divorcement, (See Gill on Matthew 5:31).

Mark 10:4 In-Context

2 And they asked him if it was permitted for a man to divorce [his] wife, [in order to] test him.

3 And he answered [and] said to them, "What did Moses command you?"

4 So they said, "Moses permitted [a man] to write a certificate of divorce and to send [her] away."

5 But Jesus said to them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart.

6 But from the beginning of creation 'he made them male and female.

Footnotes

• [a] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [b] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation