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The word translated “putting away” in Malachi 2:16 is not keriythuwth, the Hebrew word for divorce, but is shalach. See Malachi 2:14-16 in the American Standard Version, 1901, (google for this ). The practice of not legally divorcing, but only putting away (living in adultery) was cruel and adulterous, but it was not a legal divorce. It was much worse for it ignored the wife’s welfare. She was cast aside and not lived with as a true spouse. (It can apply to both genders).

Scholars today say you can make no distinction between the two words because they were used synonymously. Yes, they were by hard-hearted men. That is what Deut. 24:1-2 and Matt. 19:7-8 were all about. They are not synonymous words; they are actually antonymous. They are the difference between slavery and freedom for one-half of humanity, women, (or as happens in our society, either gender)

Many of us have heard numerous sermons on “God Hates Divorce” based on this passage in Malachi on “putting away.” My thought is that God wants the situation legal. If you are living together, you should be legally married. If you are not living with each other as true spouses, then make it legal by getting divorced so that real marriage can occur with someone else.

In Leviticus 21:14, 22:13, and Numbers 30:9, some isolated references to divorced women. The word translated divorce in all these cases is another word, the Hebrew word garash, meaning “to drive out from a possession,” and was divorce only in the sense that the women had been driven out. The word used is the very same word used repeatedly in Exodus 6:1, 23:28, 29, 30, 31, 33:2, 34:11, when the Bible spoke of driving out the Canaanites and Hivites from the land. It also, like shalach, is a harsh word, “to thrust out,” containing none of the protection for women of Deut. 24:1-3, and the word for written divorce, keriythuwth, in her hand.

Luke 16:18, Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery. The New Testament word translated “put away” is a form of the Greek word, apoluo. It is the Greek word apostasion which is the technical term for a bill or writing of divorce as far back as 258 BC. Again, many, who are hard-hearted, and don’t believe in the rights of both spouses, use these two terms as synonyms. The distinction between “put away” and “divorce” between these Greek words is critical. Apoluo dismissed the woman, but left her married, put away, with no rights, no recourse, and deprived of the basic right to monogamous marriage. Apostasion ended marriage and permitted a legal subsequent marriage.

In 1611, the KJV inconsistently translated apoluo in Matt. 5:31-32,”…and marrieth her that is divorced comitteth adultery. In the New Testament, forms of apoluo appear 69 times but only in this one instance, (in KJV) is it translated divorce. If it had been traslated in harmony with the rest of the KJV, it would say, “And whosoever shall marry her who has been put away (or abandoned or dismissed, etc.) committeth adultery.”

The Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text, Matt. 5:32b reads, “And whosoever marries a woman who is separated, but not divorced, commits adultery.” Luke 16:18b reads, “He who marries the one who is illegally separated commits adultery.” This translation highlights the misunderstanding made possible by that inconsistent KJV translation of Matt. 5:32.

The translation error was corrected in the American Standard Version of the Bible, 1901. Imagine overcoming 270 years of reading “divorced”. that 1611 KJV mistranslation in this one instance has so dominated our thinking that virtually all modern translations sya “divorced,” not just in that one place, but in ALL 11 places. They completely ignore the correction provided by the 1901 American Standard Version, and ignore the distinction between the two words.

With “divorced” in our minds instead of “separated, but not divorced” or “put away” we have assumed that anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. We have assumed “divorced” was said in these passages when in every instance the Greek text actually says “put away.” Woud our theology be different today is that word had been translated “put away?”

I haven’t looked at the NASV on this subject. In Young’s Analytical Concordance, the following verses use “putting away.” or apoluo

Mtt.1:19, 5:31,32, (but not at the end of the verse), 19:3, 7,8,9,9, Mark 10:2,4,11,12, Luke 16:18, 18(compare this to Matt. 5:32

In the Old Testament, shalach, “to send forth” is found in
Deut. 22:19, Isaiah 50:1, Jer. 3:1, 8

Mt. 19:9
Whosoever shall put away (separate from) his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her when she is put away (separated–NOT DIVORCED) committeth adultery.

This verse says nothing about WHY one can get divorced. It simply says not to marry someone who is (separated) not legally divorced.

It told the men that they had to obey rules, just like the court does with my ex-husband today.

You have to read it with the use of the phrase putting away, which is in the original and which you will NOT find in most modern translations.

Part of our problem here is that we can’t allow for the possibility that OUR TRADITIONS could be wrong.

“As long as the parents aren’t abusing each other it’s not a bad idea to stay together for the sake of the children”

No DUH!!! What a novel idea, God came up with it first though,

This is what God is saying in Mal. 2:15,16 when he talks about the fact that He made the two one because “He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. FOR I HATE PUTTING AWAY…”

abusing, neglecting, putting away…God hates it

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I would hope that we all could say a little prayer for the Spitzers.

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