Joh 4:18 | PNT | STEP | Thou hast had five husbands , etc. She had been married five times; the easy divorce laws of the age, permitting a "divorce for any cause" ( see PNT ), would allow many changes without the death of either party. Some of her husbands may have died; a part were almost certainly divorced. Her sixth alliance did not have even the apology of such a marriage.

John 4:18

Thou hast had five husbands, etc. She had been married five times; the easy divorce laws of the age, permitting a "divorce for any cause" (see PNT Mt 19:3), would allow many changes without the death of either party. Some of her husbands may have died; a part were almost certainly divorced. Her sixth alliance did not have even the apology of such a marriage.