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Pharisees came up to Yeshua, testing Him and saying, “Is it permitted for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”

“Haven’t you read?” He answered. “He who created them from the beginning ‘made them male and female’ [a] and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ [b] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.”

They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to ‘give her a certificate of divorce and put her away?’”[c]

Yeshua said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. Now I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”[d]

10 The disciples said to Him, “If that’s the case for a man and his wife, it’s better not to marry!”

11 But He said to them, “Not everyone can accept this saying—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 that way by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who can accept this, let him accept it.”

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 19:5 Gen. 1:27.
  2. Matthew 19:6 Gen. 5:2; 2:24.
  3. Matthew 19:7 Dt. 24:1, 3.
  4. Matthew 19:9 Some mss. add: and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Other mss. say: except for sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife(A) for any and every reason?”

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a](B) 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]?(C) So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

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

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

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.(F) 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 19:4 Gen. 1:27
  2. Matthew 19:5 Gen. 2:24