Exegesis:
pas ho apoluōn tēn gunaika autou kai gamōn heteran moicheuei ‘everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery.’ As this teaching is not found in the Old Testament law (cf. Mk. 10.1-12), v. 18 is not to be regarded as an exemplification of v. 17. The relationship between the two participial clauses is that the latter presupposes the former: he who after divorcing his wife remarries, commits adultery.
apoluō ‘to send away,’ here ‘to divorce.’
moicheuō (also 18.20) ‘to be an adulterer,’ ‘to commit adultery.’
he apolelumenēn apo andros gamōn ‘he who marries a woman divorced from, or, by her husband.’ The former is preferable though no presumption is implied as to the initiative in bringing about the divorce. The perfect tense of the participle apolelumenēn points to a situation in which a woman finds herself after having been divorced from her husband.
Translation:
Every one who divorces, for the construction cf. on 9.24. A formal, legal separation is probably meant here (cf. Mk. 10.4). Balinese expresses this by, ‘break-off having-a-wife.’
Marries another (or, another woman), or, ‘marries again.’ To marry, see 14.20.
Commits adultery, or, ‘is (or, acts as) an adulterer,’ ‘breaks the marriage’ (Sranan Tongo).
And, or here, ‘so,’ ‘similarly.’
A woman divorced from her husband, or, where the prepositional phrase would sound unduly redundant, ‘a woman who has been divorced,’ or simply, ‘a-divorced-one’ (Balinese, her sex to be understood from the context).
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
