Mark 10:1-16

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

Teaching about Divorce

10 He left that place and went to the region of Judea and^[a] beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them.

² Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ ³ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ ⁴ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ ⁵ But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” ⁷ “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,^{[b] 8} and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’

¹⁰ Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹ He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹² and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’

Jesus Blesses Little Children

¹³ People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ ¹⁶ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.