Awake! of 8 November 2001 stated that the Bible ‘does not oblige a battered wife to stay with a man who jeopardizes her health and perhaps her very life’, that what she does ‘is a personal decision’, and that ‘no one should coax a wife to leave her husband, but neither should anyone pressure a battered woman to stay with an abusive man when her health, life, and spirituality are threatened’. It also said some women ‘may need to seek assistance from the authorities’. In the same paragraph it quotes 1 Corinthians 7:11 to the effect that a wife who departs must ‘remain unmarried or else make up again with her husband’.

Claim ID claim-attitudes-2001-battered-wife-personal-decisionConcerns 8 November 2001Organisation's explanation

Organisation's explanation · 8 November 2001 Verified

Awake! of 8 November 2001 stated that the Bible ‘does not oblige a battered wife to stay with a man who jeopardizes her health and perhaps her very life’, that what she does ‘is a personal decision’, and that ‘no one should coax a wife to leave her husband, but neither should anyone pressure a battered woman to stay with an abusive man when her health, life, and spirituality are threatened’. It also said some women ‘may need to seek assistance from the authorities’. In the same paragraph it quotes 1 Corinthians 7:11 to the effect that a wife who departs must ‘remain unmarried or else make up again with her husband’. Source: Awake!, 8 November 2001

Show the evidence (1 source)

Primary JW publication Verified

Awake!, “Help for Battered Women”

8 November 2001 · pp.8-12 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“Should the battered wife leave her husband? The Bible does not treat marital separation lightly. At the same time, it does not oblige a battered wife to stay with a man who jeopardizes her health and perhaps her very life. The Christian apostle Paul wrote: “If she should actually depart, let her remain unmarried or else make up again with her husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:10-16) Since the Bible does not forbid separation in extreme circumstances, what a woman does in this matter is a personal decision. (Galatians 6:5) No one should coax a wife to leave her husband, but neither should anyone pressure a battered woman to stay with an abusive man when her health, life, and spirituality are threatened.”

The article is one of a series on violence against women. It describes coercive control and financial control, tells readers to listen with compassion, says on p. 9 that some battered women ‘may need to seek assistance from the authorities’, and states that a man who mistreats his wife ‘does not qualify for special privileges in the Christian congregation’ and may be disfellowshipped. The paragraph is quoted whole, including the sentence restricting remarriage, because that restriction is the material point for a reader deciding what to do.

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Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. The full article was fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read; the quoted paragraph falls after the library’s page marker for page 12, and the ‘assistance from the authorities’ sentence after the marker for page 9. The citation code inside the document reads ‘g01 11/8 pp. 8-12’.

Notes. A boxed section headed 'Correcting Misconceptions' rebuts the ideas that a battered wife is responsible for her husband's actions, that alcohol causes battering, and that women do not object to being mistreated, quoting outside works on domestic violence.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-wom-g-2001-1108-help-battered-women

Claim page Correct or update

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The claim and its evidence

Awake!, “Help for Battered Women”