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And Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” He replied, “Have you never read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined inseparably to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?(A) So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” The Pharisees said to Him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”(B) He said to them, “Because your hearts were hard and stubborn Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery[a].”

10 The disciples said to Jesus, “If the relationship of a man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.” 11 But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom [the capacity to receive] it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been born that way from their mother’s womb [making them incapable of consummating a marriage]; and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men [for royal service]; and there are eunuchs who have [b]made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 19:9 Some early mss add the phrase “...and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
  2. Matthew 19:12 This may refer to a personal vow of celibacy.

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