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Matthew 19:3-20
English Standard Version
Matthew 19:3-20
English Standard Version
3 And Pharisees came up to him and (A)tested him by asking, (B)“Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, (C)“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, (D)‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and (E)the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. (F)What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, (G)“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your (H)hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 (I)And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”[a]
10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, (J)“Not everyone can receive this saying, but only (K)those to (L)whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs (M)for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
Let the Children Come to Me
13 (N)Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples (O)rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, (P)“Let the little children (Q)come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.
The Rich Young Man
16 (R)And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to (S)have (T)eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. (U)If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, (V)“You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, (W)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, (X)“All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Matthew 19:9 Some manuscripts add and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery; other manuscripts except for sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery
Matthew 19:3-20
New International Version
Matthew 19:3-20
New International Version
3 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?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a](B) 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]?(C) 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?”(D)
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.”(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.”
The Little Children and Jesus(G)
13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them(H) and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.
14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs(I) to such as these.”(J) 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
The Rich and the Kingdom of God(K)
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life(L)?”(M)
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”(N)
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery,(O) you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[c](P) and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”(Q)
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Footnotes
- Matthew 19:4 Gen. 1:27
- Matthew 19:5 Gen. 2:24
- Matthew 19:19 Exodus 20:12-16; Deut. 5:16-20
- Matthew 19:19 Lev. 19:18
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.