Mark 10:9 Fun

When Jesus speaks in colorful, fun ways, biblical translators have to drain the color out of it. For example, Mark 10:9:

KJV: What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
NIV: Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.

The words translated as “joined” and “put asunder” are actually entertaining. Jesus only uses them in this verse and the similar verse in Matthew 19:6. Jesus often chooses such rare words for their humor.

Much of the humor here is in the word translated as "joined." which means "yoke together" and "harness together" as in joining a pair of mules or oxen into work.  The root word means the yoke used to join draft animals. However, it also means a scale or balance. A marriage couple must not only pull together, but they must also balance each other. This is not a task completed in the past, as translated. It is something happening at any point of time, past, present, and future.

The Greek word for "put asunder/separate" is not the word that Jesus used to refer to divorce, which is cutting one thing apart. This word means "to separate" to different things. The root word is a noun that refers to the space between or around things. Its literal meaning is "to make space."

Listeners Heard: What the Divine really yokes together, a person must not make space between.

In a marriage, both must pull together and balance each other. No one should come between them.