1 Corinthians7:11

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Translation

(however, if she indeed is separated, she should stay unmarried, or be reconciled

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to the husband), and the husband should not send away

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a wife.

Paraphrase

(however, if she finds herself separated from her husband, she should remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband), also the husband should not get rid of his wife.

Footnotes

1: "Reconcile"

This verb is from two words, one meaning “down” as in “down to the last point,” and the other “change.” Together they mean “change down to the last point.” It reflects two people coming together by changing their opinions in order to agree on every point. When that is done, there is absolutely no disagreement between them. It was originally used of exchanging money, where one wants to be sure that every coin is properly exchanged. Then it became useful as a picture of reconciling relationships by means of equally careful consideration.

2

This word means “to send away,” but in a discussion of marriage it was somewhat equivalent to our word “divorce” except that it was probably more broad than “divorce,” which involves laws and a judge. The word used here may have referred to both a formal and permanent separation (divorce), or to an informal, possibly temporary separation.