⁴ “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^{[a](A) 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]?^{(B) 6} So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

The Little Children and Jesus^(A)

¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them^(B) 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^(C) to such as these.”^{(D) 15} When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.