Luke 16:18

18 "If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery."

Luke 16:18 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 16:18

Whosoever putteth away his wife
For any other cause than for adultery, as the Jews used to do upon every trifling occasion, and for every little disgust: by which instance our Lord shows, how the Jews abused and depraved the law, and as much as in them lay, caused it to fail; and how he, on the other hand, was so far from destroying and making it of none effect, that he maintained the purity and spirituality of it; putting them in mind of what he had formerly said, and of many other things of the like kind along with it; how that if a man divorces his wife, for any thing else but the defiling his bed,

and marrieth another, committeth adultery:
with her that he marries: because his marriage with the former still continues, and cannot be made void by, such a divorce:

and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband;
the phrase "from her husband", is omitted in the Syriac and Persic versions:

committeth adultery;
with her that he marries, because notwithstanding her husband's divorce of her, and his after marriage with her, she still remains his lawful and proper wife; (See Gill on Matthew 5:32). The Ethiopic version reads this last clause, quite different from all others, thus, "and whosoever puts away her husband, and joins to another, commits adultery", agreeably to (See Gill on Mark 10:12).

Luke 16:18 In-Context

16 "The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were preached until Johnn came. Since then the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told, and everyone tries to enter it by force.
17 It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter in the law to be changed.
18 "If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery."
19 Jesus said, "There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes and lived in luxury every day.
20 And a very poor man named Lazarus, whose body was covered with sores, was laid at the rich man's gate.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.