³ Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

⁴ He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,Genesis 1:27 ⁵ and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’Genesis 2:24 ⁶ So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”

⁷ They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and divorce her?”

⁸ He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. ⁹ I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”

¹⁰ His disciples said to him, “If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.”

¹¹ But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”