What Does Mark 10:4 Mean?
They said, Moses allowed a writing of divorce to be written, and to send her away.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.THE KEY
The bill makes separation writable; the Greek verb behind “put her away” names the act as release.
THE MEANING
You hear permission being cited as support for a written separation. The document records a dismissal, while “put her away” carries the concrete sense of releasing her. The verse names what is allowed without yet saying that permission is the bond’s original design.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
An allowed act is automatically the original design.
THE ROOT
ἀπολῦσαι
apolysai from
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
Loosen, untie, release.
“send her away” in this verse is apolysai from. The Greek verb says “release” or “dismiss,” bringing the act itself into view beneath the idiom “put her away.” That sense does not soften the separation; it names what happens to her as a release.
ALSO GROWS
lyō: To loosen, untie, or release.
λύω
The base verb gives the image beneath the release in the divorce phrase.
apolysis: Release or dismissal.
ἀπόλυσις
This related noun keeps the same release and dismissal language in view.
ἀποστασίου
apostasiou from
GROWS FROM
ἀφίστημι (aphistēmi), from ἵστημι (histēmi)
Stand away; withdraw or depart.
“a writing of divorce” in this verse is apostasiou from. The word for the divorce document belongs to a family of words for departure and separation. The paper makes that separation explicit and recordable.
ALSO GROWS
aphistēmi: To stand away, withdraw, or depart.
ἀφίστημι
This related verb makes the separation behind the document more visible.
apostasia: Departure or withdrawal; sometimes rebellion.
ἀποστασία
The same word family can name a departure from allegiance, showing how separation takes a recognizable form.
מֹשֶׁה
Mōsheh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
m-sh-h
Draw out, especially from water.
Moses’ name is linked to being drawn out of the water. Here that name is invoked to authorize a release, placing “drawn out” beside “let go.”
ALSO GROWS
māšâ: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This verb carries the root meaning associated with Moses’ name.
mĕšîtihû: I drew him out of the water.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in the explanation of Moses’ name and makes its “drawn out” sense concrete.
THE PATTERN
A written separation can formalize a release, while the permission surrounding it remains distinct from the bond’s original design.
When a man takes a wife and marries her, and if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he finds some nakedness in her, then he writes her a writ of cutting away, places it in her hand, and sends her out of his house.Jesus answered and said to them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this command.THE THREAD
He said to them, Because of the stiffness of your hearts, Moses allowed you to send away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.Matthew 19:8 repeats the Greek verbs behind “suffered” (ἐπέτρεψεν, epetrepsen, permitted) and “put away” (ἀπολῦσαι, apolysai, release). Its ending makes explicit that permission addresses hardness of heart and does not name the beginning design.
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