What Does Luke 16:18 Mean in the King James?
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here, being sent away does not erase the consequence named for the next marriage.
THE MEANING
A spouse is dismissed and another marriage begins, yet the dismissal does not make that new union morally weightless. The verse also names the woman as one who has been put away, and says that marrying her is adultery.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A dismissal by itself makes a later marriage free of the first relationship’s consequences.
THE ROOT
ἀπολύων
apolyōn
GROWS FROM
λύω (lyō), with the prefix ἀπό- (apo-)
To loosen, release, or dismiss; ἀπολύω means to release or send away.
“putteth away” in this verse is apolyōn. The Greek repeats ἀπολύω: first one person dismisses his wife, then the woman is described as having been dismissed. The verb carries the sense of release, yet the verse says that this release does not erase the adultery attached to the next marriage.
ALSO GROWS
apolelymenēn: Having been released or dismissed.
ἀπολελυμένην
This is the same verb in the second clause, marking the woman by the act done to her.
lyō: To loose, untie, or unbind.
λύω
The root’s sense of loosening appears in the KJV phrase “Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44), opening the physical sense beneath “put away.”
THE PATTERN
A spouse’s dismissal does not, by itself, erase the relational consequences of a subsequent union.
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.So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.THE THREAD
And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.Luke uses the same Greek verb, ἀπολύω (apolyō), for the woman “loosed” from her infirmity that appears here as “putteth away.” The shared verb carries the sense of release in both verses, while context gives that release its force.
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