According to Deuteronomy 24.1, a man may divorce a woman “because he finds something about her that he doesn’t like.” However, in the case of Deuteronomy the man was required to write out divorce papers before sending the woman away from his house. Previous to this time, it was possible for a man to divorce the woman without any action other than the mere statement that he had divorced her. As an attempt to regulate and restrain this tendency, Deuteronomy required a written statement of divorce. However, according to Matthew 19.8 Jesus teaches that even this was an allowance made by Moses because men were not willing to live according to God’s Law.

As we have pointed out, It was also said is a way of introducing a citation from the Scriptures. “God also said in the Scriptures” or “God’s Scriptures also said” are ways to handle this here. Another method may be to say “You were also taught” or “Another thing people taught you.”

Whoever can be “Anyone who,” but in this context it can even be “Any husband who,” since the verse clearly is speaking about divorcing a wife.

For divorces, translators can use the normal way that their language speaks of divorce; perhaps “Whoever returns his wife to her family,” “… sends his wife away,” or “… puts an end to the marriage.”

Let him give her can be “he should give her” or “he must give her.”

The certificate of divorce can be translated “a piece of paper saying he had divorced her,” “a paper stating he had put an end to the marriage,” or “a paper saying that the marriage was over.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .