⁷ They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?”^{(A) 8} He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

² Some,^[a] testing him, asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.”^{(A) 5} But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.