¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”^(A)

⁴ “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^{[a](A) 5} and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’^[b]?^{(B) 6} So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

⁷ “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”^(C)

⁸ Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. ⁹ I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”^(D)

³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^{[a](A) 32} This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife^(B) as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.