Matthew 5:32 - Plain English Version

³² But now I’m telling you this, husbands and wives have to stay married to each other. Only if a man’s wife sleeps with another man, as if he is her husband, only then can her husband divorce her. But if a wife never does that, then her husband can’t divorce her. If he divorces her, he is forcing her to marry another man and sleep with him, and that is wrong. And the man that marries her is doing wrong too.”

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

³² but I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

³² But I tell you, Whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery. [Deut. 24:1-4.]

American Standard Version (1901)

³² but I say unto you, that every one that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, maketh her an adulteress: and whosoever shall marry her when she is put away committeth adultery.

Common English Bible

³² But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife except for sexual unfaithfulness forces her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Catholic Public Domain Version

³² But I say to you, that anyone who will have dismissed his wife, except in the case of fornication, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever will have married her who has been dismissed commits adultery.

Matthew 5:32 Cross References

Matthew 5:28

But now I’m telling you this. If you look at a woman that is not your wife, and you think about sleeping with her, that is bad too. If you think about doing that, you are going wrong. Thinking about it is just as bad as doing it.

Luke 16:18

Then Jesus said, “Some of those words from God are about people that want to break up their marriage. It is wrong. If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is sleeping with the wrong woman. She is not his proper wife. And if another man marries the divorced woman, that man is sleeping with the wrong woman too.”

1 Corinthians 7:4

You see, the wife’s body does not only belong to her, it also belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body doesn’t only belong to him, it also belongs to his wife.