10:4a–b
Moses permitted: Here the name Moses represents the law that Moses wrote. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as permitted means “allowed.”
Here are some other ways to translate this:
Moses allowed (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Moses’ law permitted
-or-
Moses gave permission (Good News Bible)
a certificate of divorce: The phrase certificate of divorce refers to a legal document/paper stating that a certain woman is no longer married to a certain man.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
an official letter of divorce (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
a paper stating/confirming that he had divorced his wife
General Comment on 10:4b
It is implied that the man gave the certificate of divorce to the woman. It may be more natural in your language to include that implied information. For example:
Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and give it to her.
In some languages, it may be more natural to translate certificate of divorce as a direct quote. For example:
According to Moses’ law, a man could give his wife a paper that said, “I divorce you.”
10:4c
send her away: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as send…away is the same verb that was translated as “divorce” in 10:2b. The Berean Standard Bible uses the expression send her away to refer to the final action of the divorce.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
to divorce her (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
force her to leave
When you translate these two phrases in 10:4b and 10:4c, be careful not to imply that the man divorced his wife twice.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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