⁷ Likewise, ^(A)husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker ^(B)vessel, since they are heirs with you^[a] of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives, and ^(A)do not be harsh with them.

²³ Then the man said,

^24 (C)Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

³ And Pharisees came up to him and ^(A)tested him by asking, ^(B)“Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” ⁴ He answered, ^(C)“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ^(D)‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^(E)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ^(F)What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” ⁷ They said to him, ^(G)“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ⁸ He said to them, “Because of your ^(H)hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9 (I)And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”^[a]

^25 (A)Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and ^(B)gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by ^(C)the washing of water ^(D)with the word, ²⁷ so ^(E)that he might present the church to himself in splendor, ^(F)without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^{[a] 28} In the same way ^(G)husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.