² Some Pharisees came to him and tried to trap him. “Tell us,” they asked, “does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife?”

³ Jesus answered with a question, “What law did Moses give you?”

^4 (A)Their answer was, “Moses gave permission for a man to write a divorce notice and send his wife away.”

⁵ Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you because you are so hard to teach. ^6 (B)But in the beginning, at the time of creation, ‘God made them male and female,’ as the scripture says. ^7 (C)‘And for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife,^{[a] 8} and the two will become one.’ So they are no longer two, but one. ⁹ No human being must separate, then, what God has joined together.”

¹⁰ When they went back into the house, the disciples asked Jesus about this matter. ^11 (D)He said to them, “A man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his wife. ¹² In the same way, a woman who divorces her husband and marries another man commits adultery.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children^(E)

¹³ Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples scolded the people. ¹⁴ When Jesus noticed this, he was angry and said to his disciples, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ^15 (F)I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ Then he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on each of them, and blessed them.