What Does Mark 10:12 Mean in the King James?
And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she 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
The Greek verb translated “put away” means release or dismiss, yet this verse says that the dismissal does not erase the bond’s claim on what comes next.
THE MEANING
This verse addresses a woman who dismisses her husband and marries another: it calls that adultery. The dismissal is real, but the verse does not treat it as erasing the marriage bond that bears on the next union.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that initiating a separation makes the next marriage unrelated to the previous bond.
THE ROOT
ἀπολύσασα
apolýsasa
GROWS FROM
λύω (lýō), compounded with ἀπό (apó)
λύω means to loosen or release; ἀπολύω means to release, dismiss, or send away.
“put away” in this verse is apolýsasa. The Greek verb depicts an act of release or dismissal. The sentence places that act beside a second marriage and names its consequence as adultery: release describes the separation, but does not itself declare what follows unbound.
ALSO GROWS
lýō: to loosen, release
λύω
This base verb keeps “put away” tied to the concrete act of letting go.
apólysis: release, dismissal
ἀπόλυσις
This related noun names the same kind of release; the verse’s next words show the consequence attached to this dismissal.
THE PATTERN
The act of separation does not erase the bond’s claim on what follows.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.THE THREAD
And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.The paired saying uses the same Greek release verb, ἀπολύω (apolýō, release or dismiss), and adultery verb, μοιχάομαι (moicháomai, commit adultery). The phrase “against her” makes explicit the bond affected when the husband dismisses his wife; this verse names the reciprocal case.
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