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A Woman Remarried and Had a Child for Her New Husband After Waiting 10 Years for Her First Husband, Father of Her First Child That Travelled Overseas?

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Answered by True Bible Teachings AI on 6/30/2026

1) Direct answer
She must leave the second union. Before God she is still bound to her first husband while he lives. She should seek reconciliation with her first husband; if reconciliation is not possible, she must remain unmarried. The second “marriage” should be treated as no marriage before God and ended. Care righteously for the child, but do not continue an adulterous relationship.

2) Scriptural explanation
- “The woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth… if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free” (Romans 7:2–3; also 1 Corinthians 7:39).
- “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6).
- “Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery… if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery” (Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18).
- If reunion cannot happen, “let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband” (1 Corinthians 7:10–11).
- Provision for the child must continue: “If any provide not for his own… he hath denied the faith” (1 Timothy 5:8).

3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice: a valid marriage ends only by death. Feeling, time, distance, abandonment, or mistaken reports of death do not dissolve the covenant. The Bible ties freedom to remarry to one thing—death.
- Therefore, the first marriage was valid from the beginning and remains binding while he lives. The second union began while a prior covenant still stood, so it is not a marriage before God; it should be ended (annulled in biblical terms).
- Right steps:
- Cease marital relations with the second man and separate lawfully.
- Seek reconciliation with the first husband if he will receive her.
- If he will not, remain unmarried and walk clean.
- Provide and care for the child; the child is innocent and must be lovingly supported by both parents.
- Some will say, “But she thought he was dead.” You see, Scripture does not base covenant on what we thought, but on whether the spouse lives. Only death releases.

4) Required conclusions under the marriage rules
- Before/after conversion: Whether before or after conversion, the first covenant stands while he lives.
- Was the first marriage valid? Yes.
- Does it remain binding? Yes, until death.
- Is separation permitted? Yes—she must separate from the second man immediately; if reconciliation with the first is not possible, she must live unmarried.
- Does annulment apply? Yes—to the second union, because a prior living spouse made a true marriage impossible from the start.
- Is remarriage permitted? No, not while the first husband lives (Romans 7:2–3; 1 Corinthians 7:39).

Final biblical conclusion
End the second union, seek reconciliation with the first husband; if reconciliation is not possible, remain unmarried. Provide for the child faithfully. This is the clean, scriptural way back into order.

What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?

Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.

SermonRelevance 49

Marriage and Divorce

Sunday morning, the 21st of February 1965 at the Parkview Junior High School in Jeffersonville, Indiana, U.S.A.

65-0221M §25

Now, listen and see if this sounds sensible to you. For instance, if I get ready to go overseas, and I take my own family, I'll call my wife up to me, and I will say, "We're ... I'm going overseas, Dear." (Now, here is the legalist's side.) " Now, my wife, I'm going to lay the law down to you. If you flirt with any man while I'm gone, when I come back, you're a divorced woman. And I don't want you making eyes, don't want you flirting! You understand that? I'm your husband. If you do it, I'm going to put you away wh...

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SermonRelevance 49

On the wings of a snow-white Dove

Sunday evening, the 28th of November 1965 at the Life Tabernacle in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.A.

65-1128E §21

I got a little wife sitting back there. She's ten years younger than me, and as gray as I am. The reason is because she's stood between me and the outside world. If I was going overseas, and I'd... Wouldn't this be some sort of a family to live in, if I'd gather my family around me and I'd say: "Looky here, Mrs. Branham, you want to realize that you're Mrs. William Branham. Thou shalt not have any other husbands while I'm gone. Don't you make eyes at any other man," and all these things? "Don't you flirt at all. If...

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SermonRelevance 49

Believest thou this?

Sunday afternoon, the 6th of September 1953 at the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

53-0906A §76

"Go on with your old synagogue." She was making her way to meet Jesus. She had something to see to Him. I believe Martha had read that story in the Bible, that where that Shunammite woman come in distress, and she had to go get the prophet; and the Shunammite woman believed for that dead baby, that God was in His prophet. She said, "If God is in His prophet, then surely God is in His Son." That's right. So she said, "Now," the Shunammite women said, "All is well. Just let me get to the prophet, and he'll understand...

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SermonRelevance 49

The second coming of the Lord

Wednesday, the 17th of April 1957

57-0417 §33

Today, if a woman is married, she should wear a wedding ring as a sign that she's married. That's to keep other men from having anything to do with her. They look and they see she's a married woman. In those days, they didn't have wedding rings. They had a tablet (they call it "tablet") they put on their head. It had ten coins, and it went around their head. And that was a sign they were a married woman, and no man was to fool with them, no boys was to flirt with them. They were married. Each one of those coins......

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SermonRelevance 49

Life story

Sunday afternoon, the 8th of November 1953 at the National Guard Armory in Owensboro, Kentucky, U.S.A.

53-1108A §48

So, I was too bashful to ask her to marry me. I just couldn't do that. Guess you wonder how I ever got married. I wrote her a letter and asked her, if you would. It worked. Now, it wasn't, "Dear Miss," it was, you know, a little more than that. I sat down one day and fixed it all up, and fixed me up a letter. Now, her father was just a good friend. Her mother was a good woman, but she was out of a real starchy church, you know, that she believed in. Guys like myself, I guess, wasn't too much. So, I thought, "I coul...

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