²¹ And the Lord God caused a ^(A)deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He ^[a]made into a woman, ^(B)and He ^(C)brought her to the man.

²³ And Adam said:

^24 (F)Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and ^(G)be^[d] joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

^25 (H)And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ^(I)ashamed.

³ The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

⁴ And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who ^[a]made them at the beginning ^(A)‘made them male and female,’ ⁵ and said, ^(B)‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ^(C)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

⁷ They said to Him, ^(D)“Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

⁸ He said to them, “Moses, because of the ^(E)hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your ^(F)wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9 (G)And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for ^[b]sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Principles of Marriage

7 Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me:

^(A)It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ² Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. ^3 (B)Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ^5 (C)Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that ^(D)Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

^25 (A)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and ^(B)gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might ^[a]sanctify and cleanse her ^(C)with the washing of water ^(D)by the word, ^27 (E)that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, ^(F)not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. ³⁰ For ^(G)we are members of His body, ^[b]of His flesh and of His bones. ^31 (H)“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the ^(I)two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless ^(J)let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she ^(K)respects her husband.

^4 (A)Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; ^(B)but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.