Matthew 19:1-12 - On Divorce

¹ And it came to pass when Jesus finished these sermons, He departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea, beyond the Jordan. ² And many multitudes followed Him; and He healed them there. ³ And the Pharisees came to Him, tempting Him, and saying to Him; Is it lawful for a man to send away his wife for any cause?

⁴ And He responding said to them, Have you not read, that the one having made them from the beginning made them male and female? ⁵ And He said, On account of this a man shall leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife; and they two shall be one flesh.

⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh: therefore what God joined together, let no man separate.

⁷ They say to Him, Then why did Moses command to give a book of divorcement, and to send her away?

⁸ He says to them, Moses on account of the hardness of your heart permitted you to send away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. ⁹ But I say unto you, That whosoever may send away his wife, not for fornication, and may marry another, commits adultery.

¹⁰ His disciples say to Him, If the cause of a man with his wife is thus, it is better not to marry.

¹¹ And He said to them, All do not receive this word, but those to whom it has been given. ¹² For there are eunuchs, who have been so born from the womb of their mother. And there are eunuchs, who have been eunuchized by men: and there are eunuchs, who eunuchized themselves for the sake of the kingdom of the heavens. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.

¹ Rising up thence He comes into the coasts of Judea, through the region beyond the Jordan; and the multitudes again come to Him, and, as was His custom, He again taught them. ² And the Pharisees having come forward asked Him, If it is lawful for a man to send away his wife? tempting Him.

³ And He responding said to them, What did Moses command you?

⁴ And they said, Moses permitted to write a book of divorcement, and to send her away.

⁵ Jesus said to them, On account of the hardness of your heart he wrote this commandment to you. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.

⁷ On this account a man shall leave his father and his mother, ⁸ and they two shall be one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ And what God joined together, let no man separate.

¹⁰ And His disciples again around Him in the house asked Him. And He says to them, ¹¹ Whosoever may send away his wife, and marry another, commits adultery unto her. ¹² And if she having sent away her husband, may marry another, she commits adultery.

¹⁸ Every one sending away his wife, and marrying another, commits adultery; and the one marrying her who has been sent away by her husband commits adultery.