Mark 10:1-16
New Testament for Everyone
Teachings on divorce
10 Jesus left the region, and went to the districts of Judaea across the Jordan. A large crowd gathered around him, and once more, as his custom was, he taught them.
2 Some Pharisees approached him with a question. “Is it permitted,” they asked, “for a man to divorce his wife?” They said this to trap him.
3 “Well,” answered Jesus, “what did Moses command you?”
4 “Moses permitted us,” they replied, “to write a notice of separation and so to complete the divorce.”
5 “He gave you that command,” said Jesus, “because you are hardhearted. 6 But from the beginning of creation
male and female he made them; 7 and that’s why the man must leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife; 8 so that the two become one flesh.
“There you are, then: they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What God has joined, humans must not split up.”
10 When they were back indoors, the disciples asked him about this.
11 “Anyone who divorces his wife,” said Jesus, “and marries someone else commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries someone else she commits adultery.”
13 People brought children to Jesus for him to touch them. The disciples reprimanded them. 14 But Jesus was angry when he saw it, and said to them, “Let the children come to me! Don’t stop them! The kingdom of God belongs to people like that. 15 I’m telling you the truth: anyone who doesn’t receive the kingdom of God like a child will never get into it.”
16 And he hugged them, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Read full chapterScripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.
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