¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; ^(A)I will make him a helper ^[a]suitable for him.” ^19 (B)And out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and ^(C)brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for ^[b]Adam there was not found ^(D)a helper ^[c]suitable for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a ^(E)deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. ²² And the Lord God ^[d]fashioned into a woman ^(F)the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

^24 (H)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. ^25 (I)And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

³ Some Pharisees came to ^[a]Jesus, testing Him and ^[b]asking, “^(A)Is it lawful for a man to ^[c]divorce his wife for any reason at all?” ⁴ And He answered and said, “Have you not read ^(B)that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ‘^(C)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and ^(D)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.” ⁷ They *said to Him, “^(E)Why, then, did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” ⁸ He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to ^[d]divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. ⁹ And I say to you, ^(F)whoever ^[e]divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman ^[f]commits adultery^[g].”

¹⁰ The disciples *said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹ But He said to them, “^(G)Not all men can accept this statement, but ^(H)only those to whom it has been given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”

² And some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began questioning Him whether it was lawful for a man to ^[a]divorce his wife. ³ And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “^(A)Moses permitted a man to write a ^[b]certificate of divorce and ^[c]send his wife away.” ⁵ But Jesus said to them, “^[d](B)Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶ But ^(C)from the beginning of creation, God ^(D)created them male and female. ^7 (E)For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother^[e], ^8 (F)and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”

¹⁰ And in the house the disciples again began questioning Him about this. ¹¹ And He *said to them, “^(G)Whoever ^[f]divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; ¹² and ^(H)if she herself ^[g]divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”

¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will ^(A)inherit the kingdom of God. ^11 (B)Such were some of you; but you were ^(C)washed, but you were ^(D)sanctified, but you were ^(E)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^[a]in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

^12 (F)All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ^13 (G)Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, however God will ^(H)do away with both ^[b]of them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but ^(I)for the Lord, and ^(J)the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ Now God has not only ^(K)raised the Lord, but ^(L)will also raise us up through His power. ^15 (M)Do you not know that ^(N)your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? ^[c](O)Far from it! ¹⁶ Or ^(P)do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^(Q)The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^(R)one spirit with Him. ^18 (S)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the ^[d]sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(T)do you not know that ^(U)your body is a ^[e]temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from ^[f]God, and that ^(V)you are not your own? ²⁰ For ^(W)you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in ^(X)your body.

^25 (A)Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and ^(B)gave Himself up for her, ^26 (C)so that He might sanctify her, having ^(D)cleansed her by the ^(E)washing of water with ^(F)the word, ²⁷ that He might ^(G)present to Himself the church ^[a]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be ^(H)holy and blameless. ²⁸ So husbands also ought to ^(I)love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; ²⁹ for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, ³⁰ because we are ^(J)parts of His ^(K)body. ^31 (L)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.